


must be fireproof

by sebastian2017



Series: fiery dispositions and tangled webs [2]
Category: Fantastic Four (Comicverse), Spider-Man (Comicverse)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, High School, Identity Porn, Jewish Character, Jewish Peter Parker, M/M, Secret Identities, Slow Burn, Trans Male Character, Trans Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 53,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24526228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebastian2017/pseuds/sebastian2017
Summary: Peter hates Johnny Storm in all parts of his life. Just Parker luck that he would end up having him as a classmate as well as a superhero colleague. And the fact that they got paired up together for a two month long final project? That must be G-d having a laugh at Peter's expense.Two months with the guy Peter most hates, trying to both stay sane and keep his secret identity a secret? All right. Peter will take that challenge. What's the worst that could happen? Falling in love and saving the city a few times? Nah, that's the sort of thing that only happens in comic books.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Johnny Storm
Series: fiery dispositions and tangled webs [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926859
Comments: 389
Kudos: 415





	1. Nothing Feels All right

**Author's Note:**

> Fic title is from Fireproof by One Direction because I am a n e r d. Chapter title from Welcome to My Life by Simple Plan, an iconic teenage angst anthem that Peter definitely jams to
> 
> I'm SO excited about this fic, y'all don't even know 
> 
> cw: food

High school? Sucks. High school as a superhero? Double sucks. High school while being trans and queer? Triple sucks. That's Peter's official opinion as someone who actually loves school. Well, maybe saying he loves school is a bit of an exaggeration. He loves learning. The school bit he could probably go without. At least, he can go without most of his classmates. The textbooks and lessons and knowledge gained Peter loves. He just wishes it didn't also involve dealing with dumb bullies like Flash Thompson or the intricacies of social hierarchies. He’s lucky that he started high school already stealth, so the teasing is just about being a nerd instead of shit about him being trans. Still, those parts of high school are all hard enough to manage without the extra added responsibility of being a superhero. 

Spider-Man plus high school is the world's worst combination. It means constantly having to show up for exams he doesn't have time to study for, doing homework in the early hours of the morning when he gets home on patrol, suffering through PE with whatever bruises villain of the week left on him, and never actually getting a chance to go out and have a social life, Sure, Peter's been labeled a nerd since elementary school, but everyone knows high school is a fresh start, the time people can rewrite themselves! Peter and his social life never stood a chance, though. 

Normally, Peter would write this off as part of the whole great responsibility gig he picked up when that spider bit him. He would do that if it weren't for one particular classmate of his. Someone who is Peter's worst enemy and probably doesn't even know he exists. Worse than Flash and all his buddies by a long shot, even if he's never laid a hand on him. 

Johnny freaking Storm. Better known as the Human Torch. 

International sensation. Teenage astronaut and superhero. Kind of a genius despite pretending to be dumb. Unbelievably popular, as one would expect from someone who regularly saves the world. 

Johnny Storm is like if someone took Peter and fixed absolutely everything going wrong in Peter's life. It's unbelievably frustrating to witness. It's even worse because he knows he can't exactly complain about it. What's he supposed to say? 'Oh yeah, I hate Johnny Storm because he walks around like he's the only teenage superhero in this high school, but I'm secretly Spider-Man and I would like my fair share of recognition'. That'll never work. Peter hates that Johnny gets recognition when Peter also saves the city quite often, but he's not about to put his secret identity at risk for it. 

What annoys him most about Johnny isn't all the attention he gets, it's that he can get away with just about anything by pulling out the Fantastic Four card. Johnny has missed weeks worth of class and is constantly turning in assignments late, but do any of the teachers care? Nope. He's seen teachers  _ offer  _ to reschedule exams to 'whenever Johnny wants' even when he's in class on exam day. Just because 'they know how time consuming being on the team must be'. It's ridiculous. It's like the special treatment varsity athletes get, but ramped up to about a million. Meanwhile, Peter once accidentally slept through first period because he'd been out until 5 in the morning chasing the Rhino, but was he allowed to make up the exam? Not a chance and Mr. Hayes had given him a zero in participation for the week because of it. 

It's unbearable. A pain made even worse by the fact that he and Johnny somehow share most of their classes. It means that Peter has plenty of time to wallow in his dislike for Johnny Storm. He has to see him during most class periods, after all. Or better said, he has to see him on the days Johnny bothers showing up to class instead of claiming he had Fantastic Four business. It's a miracle Peter's still keeping his grades up, considering he spends his classes either battling exhaustion from patrolling or scowling in Johnny's general direction. 

Unfortunately, his hatred doesn't go entirely unnoticed. Peter's packing up his books after a particularly grueling session of APUSH when Gwen Stacy - tutoring him in history in exchange for his help with calculus, dated him once despite being way out of his league, now his best friend - approaches him with a knowing smirk. 

"Is your face okay? I figure it would be sore after glaring daggers in Storm's direction for so long," she teases. 

Peter groans. He knows he's not exactly subtle, but he figures everyone would be too busy with actual note taking to pay him much attention. "He just rubs me the wrong way. That's all. Can we not talk about this right now?" 

Not that Johnny stands much of a chance of overhearing. They're on their lunch break right now and Johnny's already been crowded by his fanclub. He probably can't hear anything over the dreamy sighs and squeals of every single girl trying to get with him. When they walk past him on the way to the cafeteria, Peter's face once again morphs into a displeased scowl. 

Gwen laughs and nudges him. "There it is again! It's like a reflex whenever you see him. Did you really think I wouldn't notice? We spend half the day together with him. You really have something against him, huh?" 

"I don't have a problem with him. It's just... all the special treatment he gets is annoying sometimes," Peter explains. 

"He does get a lot more leeway from professors than we do, but..." Gwen shrugs. She grabs two suspicious looking sandwiches from the Grab n Go section of the cafeteria and passes one to Peter. "He's earned it. He puts in a lot of work with the Fantastic Four, you know?" 

Peter sighs. That's not exactly what he wanted to hear, considering he puts in a lot of work as Spider-Man, but at least it reminds him of exactly why he didn't go around complaining about this before. He can't explain his full problem with Johnny Storm without outing himself as Spider-Man and without outing himself as Spider-Man, he just sounds like a jealous teenage boy. It's pretty much a lose-lose situation, so Peter reminds himself to not be so obvious in the future. For now, he offers Gwen a weak smile. 

"Yeah, you're right. Just hard to think of him as the Human Torch sometimes, y'know? So I forget. I'll try to keep that in mind next time, though."

*****

Friday nights means two great things and one pretty good thing. Great thing one: Aunt May's shabbat dinners. Good thing two: A whole two days away from Johnny Storm in all his classes. Pretty good thing one: No having to wake up early for classes, meaning he doesn't have to worry so much while he's out on late night patrols. Everyone loves weekends, but Peter's come to absolutely adore them ever since becoming Spider-Man. 

He used to think absolutely nothing could bring him down on these days, but he hadn't been counting on coming home Friday evening and finding Aunt May set up in front of the television with take-out spread out on the coffee table in front of her. On one hand, they're definitely not the most religious of Jews. On the other hand, even Peter thinks it's a little ridiculous to spend Friday night dinner watching TV. 

"Um... Is the world ending and I just didn't find out?" Peter asks, gesturing to the TV as he drops his backpack down on the floor. 

Aunt May laughs, because anyone who lives in New York has to be able to laugh about things like the world ending. "No, it's not. Thanks to the Fantastic Four! They're up near the atmosphere, apparently, fighting an alien spaceship and the news station managed to get a camera on it to broadcast. It's so exciting! I'm afraid I forgot to start cooking on time, but I ordered from that place you like and I figured we could eat while we watch them." 

Of course. Of course Johnny Storm has somehow managed to interrupt even Peter's time honored tradition of Friday night dinners with Aunt May. He's not even upset at Aunt May. He can't blame her for getting excited about things like this being on the news. Peter still gets excited when he beats a bad guy on his patrols. But he can totally blame Johnny for being the showboaty kind of guy who ends up on live television. He doesn't believe for even a second that Johnny hadn't made it a well calculated move to be near cameras during his fight. 

Of course, Peter can't tell Aunt May all the reasons he's not fond of Johnny, so he just settles fro grumbling a little as he sits down next to her. "I don't like the Human Torch. He just seems kind of sketchy." 

"Ah, clever, using his codename as though I'd forget that Johnny is one of your classmates," she teases, pointing her plastic fork at him accusingly. "I happen to think he's a nice boy. So brave going out there like that and he seems like such a gentleman when I see him around your school. If only he wasn't always so busy with the Fantastic Four and all their big, universe ending villains. Then maybe he could work around the neighborhood and we wouldn't need those fiends like Spider-Man." 

And yup, Friday night dinner is officially ruined, courtesy of one Johnny freaking Storm. Peter isn't even surprised at this point. Aunt May knows that he feels differently about Spider-Man, but a little difference of opinion wouldn't explain why he's so bothered by her comment and Peter definitely doesn't want her to think too much about it and connect the dots so he just forces a smile at her and picks up his plate from the coffee table. 

"Thanks for ordering food, Aunt May. This report looks really interesting, but I'm swamped in homework. I think I'm going to go get a headstart on that," he says. He leans down to kiss her cheek and then rushes off before he can feel too guilty. 

Stupid Johnny Storm and his stupid, elderly woman hypnotizing charms. 

****

There's a special place in Peter's heart for his annoyance at Johnny Storm, but thankfully, it also works as spiteful motivation to keep him pushing forward. It would do no good to let himself get so caught up in his anti-Johnny Storm tirade that he falls behind. A world where Storm is a better student or crime fighter than him isn't a world where Peter wants to live in. 

His preferred strategy for keeping this up is to make sure his Johnny Storm hate happens from a distance. Too close and he'd probably just get too caught up in it. It's a routine Peter's perfected from their several shared classes together. As soon as he walks into their shared AP US History class, Peter goes to his seat on the opposite corner of where Storm sits. He'll think a few bitter, resentful thoughts whenever he glances that way or when Storm answers a question, but for the most part, he tries to just focus on his notes. 

He gets a fresh page set up, ready to start half jotting down notes and half doodling when he's bored. Only when Mr. Hudley goes up to the board, he doesn't start writing down today's topic. No, he writes down the one thing that could make Peter burst into frustrated tears in the middle of class. 

_ Group Project - Due at End of Term  _

Okay. Okay, this isn't disastrous just yet. He'll pair up with Gwen and find a way to deal with it. Sure, it's hard enough getting all his work done with his Spider-Man schedule now and it'll be hell figuring out when he can meet with Gwen to do the project, but it won't be impossible. He'll figure something out, he's sure of it. The end of the term is in two months. It'll be a shitty two months, but he's sure he and Gwen can pull it off. She's always been understanding about his hectic schedule. But then Mr. Hudley turns towards them and goes on to say just about the worst thing he could possibly say right now. 

"All right, kids, now don't think this is going to be an excuse to hang out with your friends for a grade. You won't be picking your partners. No one will, actually. It'll be randomized." 

Peter wonders if he can justify dropping out of school. Aunt May will be mad and he'll almost definitely be dead broke for the rest of his life, but at least he'll have more time for Spider-Man things, right? Maybe he could even find a way to make it profitable, the way every other superhero in the world has managed to do... Or maybe he can find a way to hack the randomized process so he definitely ends up with Gwen. 

But no. Mr. Hudley writes all their names down on pieces of paper and throws it into a big bowl. There's no way he can mess around with that. And he can't drop out. He's way too big of a nerd to leave school behind forever. So he just watches as names get picked out one by one, gripping his pencil so tightly it starts to crack and not daring to even breathe. It feels like everyone's getting called out, except for him and Johnny  _ goddamn  _ Storm. Finally, when there's just him and about three other kids left in the class, Hudley pulls out a paper and reads his name. 

"Peter Parker. And let's see, you'll be paired with..." He reaches back into the bowl for the names and Peter hopes against all hope that it'll be someone other than Johnny. He'd accept anyone in their whole school, even Flash Thompson, as a partner over Johnny Storm. As if it's not bad enough, Hudley takes his sweet, sweet time pulling the paper out and unraveling it until finally, he holds it out in front of him and says, "Jonathan Storm. Priya, Terrence, that means you two will be paired up. All right, class, I'll wrap up a few minutes early to pass out project expectations and let you meet up with your partners. For now, let's start the lecture. Notebooks out everybody!"

That's it. Peter Parker is officially the unluckiest kid in the world. 


	2. no rest for the wicked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: food, some lighthearted jewish stereotypes, unsafe binding
> 
> chapter title from the cage the elephant song (also the chapter titles aren't that ~deep~ just songs I think fit the boys and chapter mood so u know,,,, dont panic if an angsty song shows up)

As soon as the bell rings, Peter tries to leave as quickly as possible, hoping to avoid Johnny. They'll have to talk eventually, of course. The project needs to get done, after all. But if Peter can delay that for even just a few days he'll be thankful. Unfortunately, Johnny does an excellent job of pushing his way through everyone and catching up to him before he can put all that much space between them. Peter's never been so tempted to just use his powers and swing his way out of this situation. 

Johnny catches up to him and puts his hand on Peter's shoulder to stop him before he gets away again. "Hey! I don't have your phone number and we're not friends anywhere online, so... unless you have secret telepathic abilities I don't know about, I kinda need to exchange numbers with you." 

"Right. Sorry, must have slipped my mind," Peter mumbles. Johnny says the telepath part like it's a joke, but it does make Peter flinch just a bit. He's sure those jokes are easy for Johnny to make, since he's never been anything but a public hero for his powers and he has practically unlimited resources, but Peter lives in terror that he'll be found out and inadvertently place his family in danger. It's just another reminder of why he can't stand Johnny. He shrugs Johnny’s hand off his shoulder, then unlocks his phone and passes it over to Johnny with a blank contact page open, so he can add himself. 

Johnny takes it and types his number in quickly, then sends himself a text so he'll have Peter's contact. "Cool. I've got to do training with the team a couple times a week, so my schedule's a little weird, but I'll try to get everything down in a Google Calendar and share it with you, so we can meet around that." 

"Fine. See you around, Storm." Peter takes his phone back and hurries away. 

He's not even surprised that Johnny expects him to work entirely around his schedule. It seems so perfectly fitting for Johnny Storm, just going around the world like he's God's gift to humanity and no one could possibly have anything better to do than him. Sure, he doesn't know that Peter's Spider-Man and sometimes his schedule is just as hectic as the Fantastic Four's, but it shouldn't matter. Peter's disliked people like Johnny since before he was Spider-Man. 

Peter spends the rest of his day grouchy about the stupid project. He doesn't even enjoy his AP Chemistry lab, even though they're working with some borrowed equipment from Empire State University that Peter dreams about owning one day. He's just too pent up about Johnny Storm. He has to stop at the Daily Bugle to pick up his paycheck and get yelled at by JJJ for not taking any incriminating pictures of Spidey, which only worsens his mood. By the time Aunt May gets home and finds him at the kitchen table doing his homework, Peter's pretty sure he has a permanent scowl etched onto his face. 

"What's wrong with you, sweet pea?" she asks, ruffling up his hair as she walks past him on her way to the pantry. 

"We got put into pairs for a group project for APUSH," Peter explains. "I'm not super stoked about who I have to work with." 

"Oh? I guess you didn't get Gwen then," she teases, like she always does when Gwen comes up, no matter how many times Peter tells her that they'd tried dating once and decided they're much better as best friends. "Who is it then? It's not that Flash kid is it? Because I'll call his mother right now and demand she makes sure he behaves." 

"No, Aunt May, it's not Flash. It's Johnny, actually, so I don't think you're going to be able to call any of his family any time soon, unless you have some major connections I didn't know about," Peter says, rolling his eyes a little. He's shocked Johnny even gave him his phone number without making him sign a bunch of NDAs first, considering how he always acts like he's such a big deal. 

Aunt May gasps. "Johnny Storm? That nice boy from the Fantastic Four? Oh, Peter! What's the problem?" 

"You're just like everyone else at school. They all absolutely adore him. I just think he's annoying. Like okay, cool, you used nepotism to your advantage to illegally join a private space mission and now you have superpowers so no one bothers to reprimand you for that. Congrats. Oh and now you set half a city block on fire, but you killed a bunch of robots, so I guess it's okay," he grumbles. Peter can't even leave a dent in someone's car without half the city saying he's a public menace and needs to be sued for damages. Ha. As if they'd ever get more than a couple of dollars even if they did take all his assets. 

"He's not perfect, but he's a good boy who was put in a strange position and decided to do the best he could to help others," May insists. It makes Peter's heart twinge in a strange way, remembering when he was told something so similar by Uncle Ben. She doesn't notice, thankfully, and keeps going. "Besides, it's not like he's Spider-Man. That's someone that's really going around and doing more harm than good, destroying public property and avoiding all sorts of accountability. At least Johnny works with other people and doesn't just wander rogue." 

"Spider-Man's not a bad guy!" Peter insists, wishing he could tell her why he's so sure of that and the real reason Johnny annoys him so much. "He's not that different from Johnny Storm, only he doesn't have the adoring crowds or endless resources, but he still goes out and tries to do the best he can for the neighborhood. I just don't understand how you can think Johnny Storm of all people is great, but that Spider-Man is a menace. It doesn't make any sense, Aunt May." 

"We'll just have to agree to disagree. Now, come here and help me chop up some carrots for dinner, boychik." 

****

Unsurprisingly, Peter's not in a good mood the rest of the day. Dinner had been a tense affair and when he went out to patrol for a while, he'd been maybe a little too rough on every low-level criminal he webbed up. And still, when he climbs back in through his bedroom window at three in the morning, he's not feeling any better about the whole thing. He's already running on next to no sleep, he should crash as soon as he gets his binder off and his head hits the pillow, but he's having a hard time calming his mind. 

And just when he's about to drift off, when sleep is blissfully near him and he thinks he might get two full REM cycles tonight, his phone dings with a notification. A text. From Johnny Storm. Yet another reason to hate him. 

{sms from: Storm} hey!!!! just sent u my schedule to ur school email. if you're available, can we do friday night? 

Peter knows he should ignore it and just try to get back the sleep that had been so close, but he can't. It's like being near Johnny, even just his online presence, sets off an angry part of Peter. It's like he reverts back to his caveman self. So despite every logical part of him knowing he should ignore it, he grabs his phone from his nightstand and starts to reply. 

{sms from: Peter P} why are you awake at 3:47 AM

(sms from: Storm) uhhh you're replying, so ig i should be asking u the same thing

{sms from: Peter P} i asked you first

{sms from: Storm} okay well if u gotta know, the ff got called to clear something up at central park and we just got finished so. up at weird superhero hours. u? 

The funny thing is, that's the exact same reason why Peter was awake. Except he can't really tell Johnny that and unlike Johnny, he can't show up late to school tomorrow and expect everyone to be okay with it because he's a superhero. He just has to suck it up instead. Still, instead of getting a few extra minutes of sleep, he keeps texting. 

{sms from: Peter P} just homework. how many innocent trees did you burn down today

{sms from: Storm} haha very funny. that was back when I wasn't really good at controlling my powers cause they were new. so. friday night? maybe like 6 or something? 

{sms from: Peter P} sorry i cant do fridays. thats shabbat. i'll text you a better time tomorrow. {sms from : Peter P} i mean in the morning. in a few hours. you know what i mean. 

{sms from: Storm} oh shit i didnt know u were jewish. all right will wait for ur text good night 

***

Johnny's not in school during home room the next day. Peter isn't even surprised. Johnny can get away with doing pretty much anything at all and he regularly shows up late after staying up for superhero related stuff. He doesn't even ask for permission anymore. Just doesn't show up in the morning and strolls into whatever class he's decided is worthy enough, talking about how exciting it is to be a superhero and all the close calls he'd survived the night before. 

Meanwhile, Peter is getting by on barely three hours of sleep. Yes, he's pretty resentful about the whole thing. He gets Johnny's tired, but that's part of the sacrifice they make as superheroes. Except, of course, sacrifice is an almost foreign concept to the rich and pretty heroes living on the Upper East Side. It leaves Peter in an even worse mood than he'd been when he first found out he was going to have to do a project with Johnny. It's probably the worst he's felt in years, which is saying a lot. 

Scratch that. The worst he's felt in years is when Johnny finally shows up again during their history classes and immediately goes to sit down next to Peter. Even though there's other seats empty. Even though he's never sat there and everyone knows it's weird to change seats in the middle of the year like that. Peter barely holds himself together and glares down at his notes instead of straight at Johnny. 

"Hey, Parker. I had Sue stop and buy some bagels on her way to drop me off," he whispers. He has to lean over pretty obviously to do so - even though Peter could hear him fine with his enhanced hearing, but of course, Johnny doesn't know that - and he hands Peter a paper bag. "I got you an order too. Everything bagel with cream cheese. I figured you can't go wrong with a classic." 

Peter frowns down at the bag. His stomach grumbles and he can't deny it looks pretty delicious. Superheroing builds up an appetite that Aunt May's food and the cafeteria can't really tame. Still, he's suspicious and he frowns up at Johnny next. "You got me a bagel? Wait... did you get me a bagel because I told you I'm Jewish?" 

"I mean, yeah. I figured you'd like it. Ben's Jewish and he makes sure we  _ always  _ have some stocked up in the team kitchen," Johnny explains. 

"That's really weird, Storm," Peter says, though he doesn't give the bagel back. He just leans back in his chair and starts eating. Normally, Mr. Hudley hates eating in class, but the one good side of having Johnny Storm working on a project with him and bringing him bagels to class is that he gets the Johnny Storm immunity rubbed off on him by proxy. 

"Oh." Peter doesn't look at him, but he can practically hear the pout in Johnny's voice. He's probably not used to not getting what he wants. "Sorry." 

"Uh huh. I'm free Sunday at 5 to meet for the project. Work for you?" 

"Huh? Oh, yeah! The project. Yeah, that works. See you then, Peter." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter is literally just a dumb, jealous gay in love and we have no choice but to stan him. next chapter gets pretty intense for the first time, get ready
> 
> thank you for the comments last time, I'm always so happy to see a notification in my inbox!


	3. could I get a rewind?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slightly longer chapter with some more serious happenings so please heed the content warnings! chap title from little league by conan gray
> 
> cw: knife wound, dysphoria, accidental outing, well intentioned cis nonsense
> 
> If you'd like to skip that section, it starts at 'Plus, other than all his usual hangups...' and ends with "pretty okay night of teaming up together.' I'll provide a quick synopsis in the end notes!

Meeting on Sunday means Peter has a few days before he has to sit one on one with Johnny. And good thing, too, because he's not sure how he'd ever keep himself from blowing up at every tiny little thing if he doesn't get some time to pull himself together. Peter's been sure for a few years that he has the worst luck anyone could possibly have, but this last week has really proven that theory to him. He makes the mistake of jinxing it for himself while on patrol one night, when some mugger gets a lucky shot at him before Peter can web him up and call the cops. 

Luckily, he only had a knife, so while the gash along Peter's side is annoying, it's not exactly life threatening. He presses his fingers to it gingerly, wincing both at the pain and the sticky blood on his glove when he pulls it away. It'll probably heal in a few days, with his enhanced abilities, but he'll definitely have to give it a bit more attention than the usual half asleep, thrown together first aid he gives himself. He mutters to himself, "Can this week get any worse?" 

Right on cue, the radio in a nearby bodega starts beeping a warning. "Civilians, be warned of Mole Man attack currently underway at Bryant Park. Hostile moloids confirmed. Avoid Bryant Park and surrounding areas if possible and do not engage with hostiles. Fantastic Four have already deployed to respond. Repeat, avoid Bryant-" 

Peter is already swinging away and doesn't catch the rest of the announcement. He's a few miles away from Bryant Park, but he's sure he can make it in a few minutes if he pushes himself and swings off all the right buildings. He might not have police sirens and flying cars at his disposal, but he'll maintain that webs is the best way to travel the city. It can get him just about anywhere without any traffic to worry about. 

Sure, he's in pain from the knife wound and he's annoyed that just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, he has to go fight next to Johnny Storm while bleeding through his suit, but this is his responsibility as a hero. He'll kvetch to himself about it when he's home in his bed. Right now, he just has to make sure everyone can get home safely and try to keep damage and casualties to a minimum. 

All the lights are off in the park and near it, which Peter suspects was done on purpose by the Mole Man. Peter's had the misfortune of fighting him once - and seriously, he's grateful that his strangest supervillains aren't  _ mole men  _ because what the hell - and he remembers how averse he was to light. They'll have to get the lights back on. It'll give them a leg up in the fight, he's sure. His eyes are starting to adjust to the darkness as he lands on a lamp post to assess the situation, just in time for a flash of flame to fly past him. And then quickly backtrack to hover right in front of him, undoing all the process Peter had just made to making out the moloids in the dark. 

"Spidey! What are you doing here? We didn't call for help," Johnny complains. 

"Yeah, well I came by anyway. I figured you'd be a little more grateful, seeing as you're a team of four with endless resources and you still can't keep the freaking Mole Man away," Peter bites back. 

"Yeah, whatever, Spidey. Go back to fighting Stilt-Man or whatever," he says, then flies off again, presumably to go get his orders from his brother-in-law, since Johnny has all the flash and ego of a superhero, but definitely doesn't have the fast brains to come up with a battle plan on his own. 

Even though the stakes are higher and it's always far more chaotic, interacting with Johnny is always easier to do when they're both in costume. Here, they both have a well established rapport of quips and animosity between each other and Johnny gets just as feisty with Spider-Man as he does with him. In school, Peter's just someone Johnny probably doesn't even notice amidst all the endless praise and popularity, which just frustrates Peter even more. 

But as much as he wants to sit there and sulk about how annoying Johnny Storm is, both in and out of costume, he knows he'll just have to do that later, when he's in bed and complaining about how difficult his life is. Right now, he needs to put personal feelings aside and help out in this fight, any way he can. He sees Johnny, flying around and leaving a trail of burnt grass and small fires anywhere he stops to take out a few moloids, which admittedly, does make it easier to make out everything that's going on. 

There's a hole in the middle of the park, where the Mole Man must have been coming out from and where wave after wave of moloids keep climbing out of. In Peter’s experience, Mole Man tends to call for a hasty retreat after getting beat around for a while, but they won’t have a chance to get to that point until they can slow the flow of new fighters. They’ll have to cover it up somehow.

Peter does a quick mental inventory of his webbing, hoping he'll still have enough to get back home. He swings closer and starts shooting webs at it, as quickly as he can, so he can form a rudimentary sort of net over it. It's not great and he can already see that some of them can keep squeezing through some of the holes, but at the very least it'll slow them down enough to give the rest of them more of a fighting chance in getting them to retreat. Reed Richard's torso passes near him, stretching out for God knows what reason, and calls out, 'Thanks for the help, kid!" as he passes by, which does lift his spirits somewhat. He doesn't mind the whole team. Just Johnny with his arrogance. 

With that there to ebb the flow, Peter leaves the fighting to the Fantastic Four and hurries off to do as quick and thorough a check of the park as he can, in case there's someone hanging around at this hour. He knows there's a homeless encampment near here and heads there first to help them evacuate somewhere safe. He gives them all the address and phone number for FEAST and makes a couple of bags out of his webs for the ones who need help transporting their belongings. For the ones who don't want to leave the closest thing they have to a home right now, Peter seals off the spot under the bridge with more of his webbing so they'll have some sort of barrier. 

It's not perfect and Peter wishes he could do more, but at least he's trying. He hates to think that even one of them might have wound up hurt just because it was standard for heroes to sweep in without thinking about who might be around without easy access to evacuation. He doesn't even care that he's on his last two cartridges of webbing and might not be able to make it all the way home with it. He'll deal with that later on. for now, it's enough to know he did what he could and that Uncle Ben would be proud of him. It's enough to push him forward, even as his adrenaline starts to level off and the wound at his side throbs uncomfortably. 

As tempted as he is to just jump right in and start punching moloids left and right, he knows he has to be level headed about it. There's a big part of him that only wants to do that because then later he can brag about punching out more bad guys than Johnny, but that's not the important thing right now. Right now, they just have to end this fight as quickly as possible, before people get hurt. He moves back up to higher elevation to get a good look and.... there! 

He spots one of the above ground boxes for the grid that should be powering the park and surrounding area. From here, nothing looks damaged. If he had to guess, Peter thinks Mole Man probably just hacked into it from somewhere instead of just destroying it with brute force. That's good for them. He knows how sensitive Mole Man and his fighters are to light. If he can get the light back on, he's sure it'll hurt their endurance and get them to retreat faster. The only problem is it's definitely way too dark for him to see his work clearly. It's too risky to pull out his phone and light it that way, so as much as he hates to admit it, he knows what he has to do. 

"Torch!" Peter yells as he swings over to the power box. "I need some light!" 

Johnny flies over, because as much as they like to rib on each other, they both know that their first priority is to finish their duties as quickly and safely as possible. He lands next to Peter and keeps his fist lit, so they can both see by the light of the flame. "What's up, Spidey? You gonna try to turn the lights back on? I can call Reed over, I bet he knows how to." 

"Reed is on the other side of the park and can't fly," Peter reminds him. "I can do this. It's simple, just keep it visible and watch my back. I'll have us home in a jiffy." 

"Ugh, I can't believe I'm working with someone who says things like jiffy. What a nerd," Johnny grumbles, but he keeps his light on for Peter to work with and turns to keep any moloids away with well placed bursts of flame. 

Peter cracks open the lock with his enhanced strength, already envisioning the headlines about him destroying public property once this is done. If it was Johnny Storm melting locks, though, then he's sure it wouldn't be a problem. He lets himself go on his little mental rant about hero favoritism in the city, only because it keeps him motivated to work faster in getting the lights back on.

It really is a simple process, just flipping the right switches and moving a few wires here and there to compensate for whatever Mole Man had done, but when the park lights turn back on, even brighter than they'd been before, Johnny lets out a happy whoop like the Mets had just won the World Series. (And no, Peter doesn't think it's weird that he knows what team Johnny supports. He's on the headlines all the time!) 

Just as suspected, none of the moloids are happy to suddenly get light shining in their sensitive eyes, so they start running away, practically falling all over each other in their haste to leave through the small gaps in the webbing Peter had placed over their opening. Mole Man makes some vague threat about being back again and then makes another hole in the ground for all of them to escape. That'll definitely suck for landscaping, but at least they're all gone now. Johnny flies over to rejoin his team and Peter swings by, to make sure there's nothing else they need from him in the clean up efforts. 

"Thanks for the help, Spider-Man. That was a great idea, getting the lights on to drive them out. I wish our fights could always be that efficient," Reed praises, which... yeah, the huge nerd inside Peter is having a heart attack right now, because one of his science heroes thinks he had a great idea. Him! 

"Thanks, Dr. Richards. I usually have to do these things alone, so you learn a thing or two about efficiency over flashiness," Peter agrees. 

"Well, even if my way is much cooler, I have to admit, you nerds really pulled through tonight," Johnny says, then punches him playfully on the shoulder, like he sometimes does with his 'bros' at school. 

Which would be annoying, but fine if it wasn't for the knife wound still oozing blood in his side. Actually, Peter's beginning to suspect it's a little worse than he first thought. Or maybe he made it worse while swinging around instead of resting. Who even knows at this point. He hisses in pain, doubling over slightly and pressing a hand to his side to make sure the bleeding hasn't gotten any worse. He's about to agree and excuse himself, but there's several hands on him before he can do anything, holding him steady. 

"You're injured," Sue notices, pulling his hand away to take a closer look. 

"Come on," Reed says, leading him towards their flying car and taking on some of his weight while he does. "We can get you patched up back at the Baxter Building. It's the least we can do." 

Peter tries to reject their help and insist he'll be fine on his own, but it's hard to turn away the Fantastic Four when they've set their mind on something. Especially when Ben picks him up and helps strap him into the backseat of the car. Peter has a feeling he's not getting out of this one, so he figures he might as well let himself enjoy it and admire the tech in this car. 

"I'll fly ahead and get the infirmary ready," Johnny says, before lighting himself and zipping off into the skyline. 

"Ya can't keep injuries secret, kid. That's like rule one of this superhero business," Ben scolds. 

He sounds just like every grumpy uncle Peter's ever met at shul and he can't help but let out a pained chuckle. (And damn this really does hurt a hell of a lot more now that all his adrenaline is starting to fade away.) "It didn't seem that bad a few minutes ago, I swear. And I'm used to dealing with things on my own. I would have been fine, I promise." 

"Well, you don't have to get by on your own whenever you work with us. And you definitely earned your keep out there tonight," Reed says, starting to drive them off towards the Baxter Building's rooftop exit. "That was some good work earlier, quick thinking on your feet. Do you study electrical engineering at college or something?" 

And oh boy, Peter thought he was giddy before, but it's nothing compared to the thrill of knowing that Reed Richards thinks he's smart enough to be a college student. He's glad he has a mask on, so his stupid grin is at least somewhat covered. "You know I can't answer something like that. Kinda ruins the whole secret identity thing, Dr. Richards. But I can say that I try to keep it a habit to know as many things as possible. Comes in handy at times like these." 

"I bet," Reed agrees, then starts asking Peter all sorts of questions about his web fluid, which makes Peter feel as excited as he did in sixth grade when he was finally old enough to qualify for Honor Roll. 

Needless to say, it's a wonderful distraction and the ride back to Baxter Building passes by quickly, even with the pain in his side. When they get there, they help him get out of the car again, despite Peter's insistence that he can walk just fine. They lead him all the way down to an infirmary - definitely a much better facility than Peter's first aid kid in his cramped bathroom - where Johnny's already waiting with some basic first aid supplies. 

"All right, I need to go write up a quick debrief for the city, but you're in good hands here with Johnny," Reed says, after helping him sit down on an examining table. 

Peter thinks he must have misheard him, but no, everyone except him and Johnny leave the room. And suddenly, this turns into something straight out of Peter's worst nightmares. Who would have ever thought his night was going to end like this, when this was supposed to be one of his peaceful, Johnny-Storm-free days before having to meet up with him outside school hours for a project? Ugh. The Parker Luck is really getting out of hand. 

His disbelief and distrust must be somewhat obvious even through the mask, because Johnny laughs as he puts a pair of gloves on. "Don't worry, I had to go through a pretty intense first aid class before I could go on the first mission. I've actually got steadier hands than Reed, believe it or not. C'mon, I just need you to take your suit off so I can see the damage." 

"I'm not taking my mask off and if you come anywhere near it, I'll web your face shut so you can't breathe," he threatens.

"Don't worry, Spidey, I've got absolutely no interest in confirming that you look like the world's biggest nerd under that mask," Johnny promises. 

Peter still eyes him cautiously the entire time, because Johnny Storm isn't exactly on his list of trusted individuals. He feels vulnerable enough stripping even halfway in front of anyone, let alone while he's out as Spider-Man and when that person is one of his worst enemies. A lot of the times, especially out in battle, they exaggerate it a bit as part of their sort of on stage personality, like Peter's many jokes when he's Spider-Man, but there's some truth to the tension and of all the heroes he's met, he trusts Johnny the least. 

Plus, other than all his usual hangups about undressing in front of someone, this is also Johnny, who he's going to be meeting up with for a school project in around 36 hours. He's paranoid that something will give him away. But no, Johnny's not going to see his torso. It's probably fine. So he tightens his jaw and glares at a piece of the wall as he undoes the top zips and clasps of the suits and pushes it down to his waist. He's wearing a tank top that helps with some of the chafing and he pulls that up to about halfway up his ribs, which thankfully is just above where the wound is. 

Johnny had been gathering the supplies and he turns back to Peter again. He sighs a bit when he spots him. "You know, this would be a lot easier if you took that tanktop all the way off." 

"Yeah, well... You've just gotta deal with it," he snaps. It has a bit less bite to it than usual. He's too caught up in his nerves and the dysphoria of being so bare in front of someone he doesn't like or trust. It's worse than being exposed to a stranger. He tries to regain some of his confidence and adds, "I can still go home and take care of it on my own." 

"No, it's fine. Ben's real stubborn after an injury, too, so I'm used to working with brats." 

Johnny sits down in a chair near the examination table and leans in close to get a better look. Peter swears he can feel his breathing on his skin and it makes the hair on his arms prickle up. Mentally, he tries to blame it on the cold. He distracts himself by noticing how much blood has dried off on his torso. It's worse than he'd thought. This tank top is definitely ruined and his binder is going to be a headache to clean without Aunt May noticing. He's distracted, though, when Johnny presses a hand to his side to hold the skin taut while he grabs an alcohol pad to clean off the area. In doing so, his fingers brush up against the bottom elastic of Peter's binder. 

"Jesus, Spidey, are you wearing  _ two  _ compression shirts? I didn't even wear this much compression gear when I was playing football before all this started, what's even the point of it? I swear, you just keep getting weirder and-" Johnny pushes the tanktop up a bit further and cuts himself off, his eyes lighting up with realization. He pulls his hand back and retreats so quickly, he sends the chair toppling over. "Shit. I'm so sorry. That came out absolutely terrible. Fuck, I'm the biggest jerk in the world. I had no idea. Um. Fuck. I'm sorry. Sue gives pretty good first aid, too, if the reason you're uncomfortable is 'cause you don't want a cis dude touching you, I totally get it. Um, sorry again. I didn't mean to call you weird. I mean, I still think you're weird, just not because of that. Because like, it'd be just as bad if I stopped teasing you just because of this, right? I think. Jesus, Spidey, please say something, because I feel like an idiot." 

Overall, it's not the worst reaction Peter's ever gotten to someone finding out he's trans. It's not the best, not by a long shot, but it's not the worst. Granted, the bar is pretty low - as in, just don't call him slurs and try to beat him up low - but it's still not the worst. And while he is tempted to just get redressed and go home right now, now that he's looking at the wound in proper lighting, it probably needs stitches and he definitely doesn't have those back home. So he just scowls and shakes his head. 

"I really just want to go home, Storm. So can you get over your little freak out and come finish what you started?" 

"Yeah. Yeah, of course. Shit, sorry. Um, just... let me know if you're uncomfortable or something. Or if I should call Sue." 

He goes to get a fresh pair of gloves and sits back down to start again, this time being very obvious about how careful he's being to avoid letting his hands drift too far up towards Peter's chest. Honestly, Peter doesn't want Johnny's hands anywhere near him like that, but he is mildly annoyed by how obvious Johnny was being. Especially after they'd been having a pretty okay night of teaming up together. 

They don't talk at all while Johnny stitches him up and as soon as it's done, Peter pulls the suit back up the rest of the way and gets ready to leave. The only reason he doesn't just jump out the window as soon as it's done is because he'd feel rude not saying a proper goodbye to the rest of the team. So he pops in to the living area of the building to say goodbye and then lets them lead him up to the rooftop entrance so he can hop off and make his way back home. At this point, Peter just wants to sleep until he and Johnny's meeting. 

Or more accurately, he just wants to skip out on the whole thing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> extended content warning: Peter is injured while patrolling, but stays out to help the FF fight Mole Man instead of treating the wound. It worsens from swinging around and fighting, so the team insists Peter stays for first aid. Johnny's the one who goes to stitch him up and finds Peter's chest binder in the process. He realizes that Spider-Man is trans and from the shock has a small freak out. He doesn't say anything mean, but he overreacts a bit and apologises several times, making the situation more uncomfortable than it originally was.


	4. I can't stop judging every thing you do but I can't get enough of you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I updated a couple of days ago but I'm pretty far ahead with the pre-written chapters and just finished writing something so painfully adorable I got excited and couldn't help updating again 
> 
> chapter title from Upper West Side by King Princess
> 
> cw: brief allusions to dysphoria, food

Peter tries to fake being sick to get out of his meeting with Johnny, but Aunt May sees right through him. She doesn't even have to tell him to stop faking. She just gives him one of her disappointed stares when he shuffles to the living room with a thermometer and Peter immediately gives it up and turns around again. She is a very powerful woman. 

She gives him a pep talk that mostly consists of reminding him that Johnny is a wonderful young man and that he needs to give him a chance. She even throws in something about how his time photographing Spider-Man has gotten to his head, which is the opposite of encouraging, but Peter can't blame her for not knowing the full situation. He's the one who's done such a good job of keeping her in the dark, after all. So he keeps his scowls to a minimum and saves it all for his train ride into Manhattan to get to Johnny's place. The closer he gets to Baxter Building, though, the more Peter's annoyance fades away to discomfort. By the time he walks up to the entrance of the building, he feels like he might be sick at any moment from the churning in his stomach. 

Logically, he knows that he needs to put aside what happened between Johnny and Spider-Man. It was a shitty way to be outed and Johnny could have done a lot better, but he can't bring that into his meeting with Johnny as Peter. Johnny has no reason to associate that incident with Peter at all, unless it has to do with Peter's reputation as Spider-Man's photographer. Spider-Man might have been outed to Johnny just a day and a half ago, but Peter wasn't. He can't go in there acting like someone who's last interaction with Johnny was an awkward, vulnerable outing. He doesn't want to give him any reason at all to be suspicious. 

And still, Peter can't help feeling slightly nauseous when he walks in. Thank God the doorman accepts his school ID as clearance to let him go up to the upper floors where the team lives. If Peter had to pull out his actual ID with his deadname still on it, he would have probably just turned around, thrown up in the nearest alley, then gone back home and accepted a failing grade in this project. Instead, he just has an uncomfortably long elevator ride in the private elevator that leads up to the Fantastic Four headquarters. The entire time, he just keeps reliving his early morning with Johnny and getting more nervous about this. It's a lot easier to be angry at him than nervous, he decides. 

When the elevator doors finally open, Johnny's waiting on the other side. He's in a pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt so well worn it's see through at some spots, and a pair of socks with the Fantastic Four logo patterned across them. It's... very different from the Johnny that Peter sees at school or when they team up to take out bad guys together. Okay. He can do this. Johnny doesn't actually have a secret identity, but Peter can pretend. He can pretend that Johnny Storm and the Human Torch are two completely different entities, just like Peter Parker and Spider-Man. And that way, he can pretend their last run-in never happened. He can do that. It'll be fine. 

"Hey, Peter! Welcome to my not so humble abode," Johnny greets. Which is obnoxious and thank God for that, because it makes it so much easier to slip back to mild hatred, instead of discomfort and vulnerability. "You good, man? You look a little queasy." 

"Just a long way up," he mumbles, stepping out of the elevator and into the foyer. He's technically been here, but he mostly just saw the infirmary and a brief glimpse of the living room, so this is all still new to him, which makes it easy to look around with the appropriate level of curiosity that Peter figures most people would have at walking into the Fantastic Four's home. 

Johnny watches him looking around and then shrugs. "I know people usually get kinda intimated the first time they come up here, but it's really just a home like anyone else's. I mean, Reed has his labs here, which is probably not that normal, but we're not gonna go up to his labs anyway, so mostly just... pretend this is just an apartment like any other." 

"I don't think apartment like any other is how I would describe a multi floor penthouse in the middle of Manhattan," Peter points out dryly, deciding he's had enough of looking around the room and giving Johnny that satisfaction. "Where are we working?" 

"I figured the living room is fine. C'mon, I claimed it for myself so we should be able to get by without any Fantastic Four mayhem," Johnny promises. 

Of course, that's what he says, but as soon as he leads Peter through to the living room, Reed is standing there, putting a tray of cookies and sodas down on the coffee table. Peter gets starstruck seeing Reed Richards anytime, even when he's suited up, and that feeling increases by tenfold when he's seeing Reed as a civilian. And doing something as ridiculous looking as setting down cookies for a study session between him and Johnny Storm. 

Johnny doesn't find it as endearing, it seems. He turns red and starts sputtering nonsensically for a moment, before getting it together enough to be understood. "Reed! The living room is off limits for a few hours. I literally  _ just  _ texted the group chat about it." 

"Oh, sorry. I must have missed it. I just wanted to make sure your friend would be comfortable. It's important to make good first impressions, you know," Reed says, sounding more like a father than a brother in law in his early thirties. He turns towards Peter and reaches to shake his hand. "You must be Peter. It's great to meet you, I'm Reed." 

Peter's already met him, of course, but it feels way cooler to hear Dr. Richards say his actual name. Peter stands up a little taller and has to put every ounce of effort in him into not squeaking when he replies. "I know who you are, Dr. Richards. It's an honor to meet you. Your research in hyperspace and quantum mechanics literally changed my life." 

"Oh, well thank you! See, Johnny? It's not all just nonsense," Reed says, looking at Johnny over his shoulder. "I'll leave you boys to it. Feel free to persuade Johnny to actually read some of my papers instead of hearing about them mid-mission when it's relevant. He keeps refusing." 

"Sure thing, Dr. Richards!" Peter calls after him. If this were a cartoon, he would definitely have stars in his eyes right now. 

Johnny scoffs and goes to sit on the couch. For all he'd grumbled, he has no problem grabbing a cookie for himself. "You know, I think you're probably one of the only people who actually cares about that science he does. Most people just pretend to so he'll like them and sign their shit." 

"He's one of the smartest people on this planet and you have the privilege of living with him. You really shouldn't take that for granted, Johnny," Peter scolds. 

"Well, seeing as our project is in history and not science, I don't think that matters much right now," Johnny reminds him. He pulls his laptop closer from the table and opens it up to the guidelines for the project. "Okay, so. The growth of American heroes since World War 2. Now, if you ask me, Mr. Hudley definitely knew what he was doing when he assigned this project with me in his class, which is weird, but whatever. I bet I can get us some exclusive interviews. That'll definitely get us an A." 

Peter's about to point out how that's unfair and kind of a dick move to the other students, but he spots something strange on Johnny's other tabs when he leans in closer to review the guidelines. He knows he shouldn't ask, because as Peter Parker who definitely has nothing more than a professional connection to Spider-Man he shouldn't care about this or even know at all, but he asks anyway, hoping he can brush it off as just mild curiosity. "Uh, Johnny? Why do you have a bunch of tabs open about trans history and etiquette?" 

"Oh!" Johnny turns bright red and his body temperature ticks up noticeably . Enough that Peter is half afraid he's going to flame on any second. Johnny doesn't close the tabs, but he does hurry to pull their project guidelines onto a new window. "I accidentally found out that someone I know is trans a few days ago and I didn't react very well. Like, obviously, I don't have a problem with it and I didn't tell him he's going to Hell or something like that, but I didn't really know how to approach it and, uh... it was pretty awkward. I'm trying to do some research so I won't be such a huge ass next time." 

"Oh. Okay." Peter doesn't actually know how to react to that because one one hand it's actually kind of sweet of someone to research after a disaster like what happened between them, but on the other hand Peter doesn't really want to get in the habit of congratulating people for doing things that are really just common decency. On a completely other hand - luckily, he's a spider, so he has plenty of hands to think on - Johnny has no reason to think that Peter knows anything about what happened at all, so it's probably best if he doesn't actually say anything at all. 

Thankfully, Johnny also seems very on board with the don't say anything idea. He clears his throat awkwardly and pulls out their textbook. "Right, so. Superheroes in World War 2. I figured we could start with what the textbook says, then branch out from there?" 

"Yeah. That sounds fine." 

Peter pulls out his own textbook to read along and tries not to stare at the clock too obviously. He's only been here a few minutes and he's already done a great job of almost putting his foot in his mouth several times. He has no idea how he's going to survive two months of this. 

****

The next time he sees Johnny - really sees him, not just passes by him in the hall - it's when he's on patrol on Tuesday night. They've teamed up together, but random encounters like these are actually rare. Usually, Peter will find out that the Fantastic Four are fighting somewhere and go help them. They rarely come to him and Johnny seems to be alone when he flies over to Peter on a rooftop, which has never happened before. Peter's immediately on high alert. 

Johnny lands next to him on a rooftop and waves awkwardly as he approaches him. "Hey, Spidey. Do you mind if we talk for a few minutes? I know you're probably busy, but I promise I'll be quick." 

"Sure, I'll just give a quick call to all the criminals nearby and ask them to hold off for a few minutes while Johnny Storm talks to me," Peter grumbles. "Just be quick." 

Working on the project over the weekend had gone fine, mostly because he'd finally managed to calm his own anxiety by repeating to himself over and over again that Johnny had no reason to connect Peter and Spider-Man and just because Spider-Man was now out to him, didn't mean Peter was. It was easier to do after a few hours, when it had become incredibly clear that Johnny had no idea. 

Here on an empty rooftop as Spider-Man, though? Knowing that Johnny's probably just tracking him down as some weird way to absolve his guilt? It makes Peter's skin crawl and he just wants to hide away amongst the city's chaos. But he'd already told Johnny to stay and he knows how stubborn Johnny is. He probably wouldn't be able to swing away from this even if he wanted to. So he just keeps staring out into the city instead of at Johnny, focusing on his breathing and trying to keep it as level as possible. 

"Of course. I just wanted to apologize again for the other night. I was caught off guard and I panicked, but that's no excuse. I've been doing some research and trying to educate myself so I know better next time and also, please feel free to call me out on it any time you see me messing up. I shouldn't have freaked out like that and I should have just apologized instead of rambling about how I didn't mean to do that," Johnny apologizes, which... does actually ease up some of the tension in Peter's stomach. The last people who went off to do research after he came out were probably his aunt and uncle. 

"I know you weren't trying to be a dick, Johnny, but yeah. You did kinda make it worse. Thanks for apologizing," Peter says. 

Johnny nods. "Of course, man. Oh! That was another thing I read about a lot. I should have asked you this when we first met, but what pronouns do you use?" 

"Oh. I use he/him pronouns, so don't worry. You've been fine this whole time. And I don't mind when you call me 'man' or 'dude' or whatever, but yeah. You should probably get in the habit of asking people that," Peter agrees. '"Though I didn't ask you or anyone else on the team, either so... It's not just a cis thing. We can both do better." 

"I guess, but I'm the rich, famous, cis guy, so... I've literally got nothing to lose. I'm going to do better, I promise. Here, let's start over." Johnny does a way too dramatic 360 turn and then acts fake surprised to see Peter standing there. He holds his hand out to him. "Oh, hi, Spider-Man! I'm a big fan, great seeing you here. I'm Johnny Storm and I use he/him pronouns. What about you?" 

Peter can't help it. He laughs. This is a little ridiculous, but it's also pretty sweet. More than he would expect from Johnny. So he reaches forward and shakes his hand. "Nice to meet you, Johnny Storm. I'm Spider-Man and I use he/him pronouns, too." 

"Cool. Great to meet you, Spider-Man. I'll leave you to beating up bad guys now. See you around." Johnny waves goodbye and with that, flies off again, back to Baxter Building or whatever it is popular, teenage superheroes do on Tuesday nights. 

Peter still thinks Johnny's a dick and that he gets way too much special attention when they're at school together, but... at least he's not as much of an asshole as Peter thought at first. Not that he has time to think about it too much. This is New York. There's always some new crime to go stop. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> johnny storm is dorky king of the allies and we truly have no choice but to stan. also reed is just like the mean girls mom, leaving snacks for his kid brother in law like 'all right you kids have fun let me know if you need anything to aid in establishing romantic connections'


	5. charged up 'cause the man's on a mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chap title is from john wayne by lady gaga

School doesn't change all that much. Johnny Storm still hangs out with all the popular jock types and Peter still keeps to his group of nerds while scowling at the back of Johnny's head in class. Just because Johnny proved to be half decent while they were both out doing their jobs as heroes doesn't mean it's any less annoying when he gets special treatment in school. And God knows he takes advantage of it. 

He misses three days in two weeks, which is annoying enough as is, but especially gets on Peter's nerves that those three days are days they were supposed to have APUSH together. Johnny's fourth unscheduled day off falls on one of their double periods They're supposed to be using class time for their project and having no partner around means Peter just has to sit around, taking useless notes on some reading without getting any actual work done. The less they get done here, the more they'll have to meet up after school for this, and that's what Peter's trying to avoid. Besides just being awkward, it's also time that Peter could be devoting to Spidey things or getting ahead with homework so he has more time later in the day for Spidey things. 

He waits until the second bell rings to confirm that Johnny's not coming to class before sighing and pulling out his textbook for another useless day of reviewing and note taking. Gwen shoots him a sympathetic look from where she's sitting with her partner and Peter just shrugs. It's not like he hadn't seen it coming. He'd known from when Johnny's name first got called to pair up with him that this would be a nightmare. Johnny may be smart, but he's also lazy here in school. Not a great combination. 

Peter's just about to take some notes about Project Rebirth when the intercom crackles to life and calls him to the office. There's an immature ' _ ooh'  _ going around the room, which is basically a requirement anytime someone gets called to the office. Peter flushes slightly, because he hates getting attention on him like that. Especially when he really has no idea what he's getting called to the office for. Mr. Hudley waves him away without much concern, though Peter doesn't know whether it's because he really doesn't care where Peter is during class or more of the immunity from proximity to Johnny Storm. It probably doesn't matter now. 

He gets his things together and picks up his backpack, just in case, and goes down to the head office. He hopes it's just some meeting with the counselor he's forgotten or something equally innocuous. He's not sure how he'll manage if he finds out something's happened to his aunt. 

Except when he goes in, it's not his aunt or an overworked college counselor waiting for him. It's Johnny Storm. Johnny Storm, with no school supplies in sight and a wide grin that immediately gets Peter's suspicions on high. He gets up from his chair and goes over to Peter's side to grab him by the edge of his hoodie and tug him towards the door. 

"Parker! I signed you out, you and I are going on a fieldtrip," Johnny explains. 

Somehow, Peter is already halfway down the hallway. Never underestimate the powers of Johnny Storm determined to get somewhere. "You signed me out? You're not my guardian, that's not even allowed." 

"Eh. People will let you do pretty much anything when you're a superhero." Johnny shrugs. 

Which... great. So he does know all the special treatment he gets because of his involvement with the team, it's not just something that happens passively to him. That doesn't do a lot to help endear him to Peter, though he does keep following him down the hallway and out to the street. He can't really say exactly why. Traitorous legs, most likely. 

"So you expect me to leave and miss out the rest of my classes just because you say so?" Peter asks. Lucky for Johnny, Peter didn't get to finish his chem homework after patrol last night, so an excuse to get out of class is actually perfect. "You'd better have a good excuse for all of this." 

"Don't worry, I've got the best excuse. It has to do with our project." 

Shockingly, that doesn't do much to reassure Peter, but he follows Johnny to his car nonetheless. It's some classic muscle car that definitely uses up too much gas and is entirely impractical in the city, but Johnny uses everyday anyway. Peter just goes ahead and mentally adds that to his list of reasons he finds Johnny annoying, even as he gets into the the passenger seat. Briefly, Peter wonders if the car can fly. If he had a car, he'd definitely make sure it could fly. 

"Okay, so. You've kidnapped me from school for the project. Can I know what it is we're actually doing? Seeing as I'm fifty percent of the project," Peter points out. 

"Jeez, feisty. All right, drum roll, please." Johnny provides his own drum roll, though, banging along on his steering wheel as they wait at a red light. When the light turns green, he keeps on talking, "Our project's on superheroes, right? Weeeell, I pulled some connections and got us an interview with an Avenger! I mean, it's Hawkeye, because none of the others believed this was a real school project and not some excuse to prank them on TikTok or something, but it's still something. I bet Mr. Hudley's going to love it." 

Peter's not entirely surprised, but he still frowns. "Oh. Listen, I'm sure you worked all your charm to get that, but... don't you think that's a little unfair? Everyone else is working with textbooks and NPR interviews and we get to go meet some of them? I just... It doesn't feel right."

"I had a feeling you'd say that, which is why I also arranged for some of them to come talk to the class all together next week." Johnny passes Peter his phone, open to a confirmation email from  _ Steve freaking Rogers  _ for a classroom visit next week. "I even got Cap to agree to that one. Which, really, if he's worried about one teenager embarrassing him for a meme, he should be worried more about a classroom full of teenagers, but... let's just say his brain isn't his most exercised muscle." 

Peter laughs and hands Johnny his cellphone back. "All right, I guess meeting Hawkeye won't be that bad if everyone else is meeting Captain America. Though maybe next time you can give me a heads up before pulling me out of class without warning?" 

"Are you kidding? The surprise is half the fun." Johnny winks at him. 

Peter rolls his eyes. "Of course it is. All right, have your fun, Johnny, because next time, I'm just staying in class." 

"Whatever you say, Parker." 

They don't talk for the rest of the drive. There's traffic, because of course there is, but it's not as bad as if they'd gone out during rush hour. Johnny connects his phone to play music, a playlist of pop-punk that Peter is not at all surprised by. It fits into Johnny's  _ too cool for school  _ and  _ woe is me  _ aesthetic perfectly.

They make it to Avengers Tower, where Johnny pulls up into a private parking lot and leaves his car somewhere that required several ID and security checks. He's pretty sure the other cars here belong to Avengers or SHIELD agents, which... okay. Yeah, that's pretty cool, Peter has to admit. He steps out of the car and discovers that the parking garage is climate controlled. Because why not? He's pretty sure the air he's breathing in here is probably imported from the European mountains or something. 

Johnny leads him over to an elevator that only shows its floor panel after Johnny scans some sort of security card. Peter's met several Avengers as Spider-Man already, but he's never actually been at their headquarters. He'd imagined them as some high tech place like this, but actually seeing it with his own eyes really drives home the point of how different life is for different superheroes. Peter doesn't even have a lock on the closet that holds his suit and webbing. 

"Okay, so obviously, I'm not as close to any of the Avengers as the other Fantastic Four, but I've worked with them a few times and I can pretty confidently say that Clint is a super chill guy, so don't be intimidated just 'cause he's an Avenger or whatever," Johnny explains as they watch the floors pass them by. "I asked him to talk to us a little about his transition from SHIELD agent to Avenger. I figured it would do well for a section on the nationalization of superheroes." 

"That... actually sounds pretty good, Johnny. But again, maybe next time, talk to me while organizing things?" Peter reminds him. 

"I will next time! I just wanted it to be a surprise." 

Peter still thinks that's a pretty ridiculous reason to keep him in the dark, but he knows that Johnny Storm's ego works in mysterious ways and it's usually best not to question it too much. He's in nerdy superhero heaven right now. He should do his best to enjoy it. Peter's always said that he won't work with big teams like these to preserve his integrity and independence, but the technology of this elevator alone is enough to make him rethink that. 

When the doors open on one of the upper level floors, Peter steps out with Johnny into what must be a common rest area between training or mission debriefs. There's a TV, a kitchen area, plenty of comfortable seating, and a couple of games in the corner like foosball, air hockey, and ping pong. Peter just imagines this being like the coolest dorm ever, full of Avengers, and suddenly, integrity doesn't seem all that important anymore. 

Over by the kitchen counter, Hawkeye is holding a pot of black coffee. Peter thinks he's going to pour some out for them, to make sure the Avengers come off as good hosts or whatever, but no. He just takes a long drink straight from the pot and gestures for the boys to come sit at the stools by the counter. 

"Hey, Johnny. Everyone else on the team still thinks you're just trying to prank us all, so please don't prove them right or I'm going to have Tony invent some sort of water arrow so I can douse you next time you fly by," Hawkeye threatens. 

"It's really cute how you all think you'd be able to stop me if I ever decide I want to prank you," Johnny scoffs. He sits up and then waves his hand over towards Peter. "This is my classmate, Peter Parker. He's my partner for the project." 

"Nice to meet ya, Peter. I'm Clint," he says, shaking Peter's hand between sips of his coffee. 

"You too, sir," Peter greets politely. He's met Hawkeye once, when his patrol had taken him all the way out to Brooklyn. Of course, Clint has no idea that they've met, so Peter makes sure to act appropriately star struck. It's still not the weirdest thing he's had to do as Spider-Man. 

"Great. So, Johnny says you want to know about my work with SHIELD and becoming Hawkeye. Obviously, a lot is classified, but I'll tell you juuuust enough so we don't all get sued."

***

A few hours later, Peter has a few pages of notes from their time with Hawkeye and he'd gotten a pretty delicious lunch courtesy of the Avengers credit card. Peter has to admit, it was a pretty good afternoon. Much better than what he would have done if he'd just stayed back at school. He's less annoyed, more satisfied when he and Johnny go back down to his car. Johnny offers to drive him home and Peter is, contrary to popular belief, not stubborn enough to turn down a good offer like that, so he gives Johnny his address and settles in for the ride. 

There's more traffic this time around, as people get out of work and school, so it's stop and go for a while. When commercial areas start to give way to Queens' residential neighborhoods, things ease up, but Johnny still goes along as a leisurely pace. It's not exactly the pedal to the metal attitude Peter would have expected from him, especially in this car. When they roll to a stop at a red light a few streets away from Peter's place, Johnny turns to look at him with the hint of a frown in his furrowed brow. 

"Parker? Can I ask you something?" 

"I have a feeling you're going to ask me regardless of what I say," Peter says, turning slightly in his seat to face him. "Go for it." 

Johnny shrugs. "Maybe I wouldn't have. It's just... You don't like me, right? Which is fine, you don't have to, I just... I could never quite figure out why you hate me so much." 

And here's the thing. It's true. Peter isn't Johnny's biggest fan. He's been pretty vocal about that to Gwen, Aunt May, and all his internal monologues during patrol. That doesn't mean he actually wants to say it to his face, without so much as a spandex mask between them. He'd deny it, but he's pretty sure the way he's fidgeting in his seat probably doesn't do much to make him look innocent. "I mean... I guess hate is kind of a strong word. I haven't exactly been... your biggest fan. Though to be fair, the standards are skewed, given how much everyone at school adores you."

"Is that it, then? You jealous of me, Parker?" Johnny asks. He tries to make it sound like a joke, but Peter can hear the strain in his voice. 

"You wish," he scoffs. "I'm not jealous of you. It's just... It's kind of frustrating sometimes, y'know? Watching you get all that special treatment, missing class all the time, having teachers worship the ground you walk on. Not to mention all our classmates treating you like you're a god. It was bad enough with football players and then you showed up and it's just ten times worse. I go to school to learn, not get wrapped up in the Johnny Storm fan club. How'd you even find out?" 

"You're not exactly subtle, Parker. You glare  _ a lot _ , you mumble comments to Gwen Stacy anytime you walk into a room, and I saw your face when we got paired together. I know I'm not a genius like you or Reed or whatever, but I'm not an idiot." Johnny sighs and looks straight ahead again. The light's changed, but Peter has a suspicion Johnny would have looked away regardless. "I thought maybe if I gave you a behind the scenes tour of the Baxter Building, brought you to meet an Avenger, stuff like that, maybe you'd warm up to me, but even know, anytime you realize you're having a good time, you tense up like you don't want to let it happen." 

Johnny's far more perceptive than Peter would have given him credit for, Peter has to hand him that. And he feels almost  _ bad  _ now, because his frustration with Johnny makes perfect sense with full context. The way they get treated differently when they're out being heroes, the disparity in their resources, Peter's struggles to keep up in class  _ and  _ Spider-Man while Johnny gets it all handed to him. But Johnny doesn't see that. He just sees some kid who hates him randomly. Aunt May would be  _ very  _ disappointed. 

Peter sighs. "You're right. I shouldn't be so obvious about that, I'm sorry. Why's it matter to you so much? You kinda have the world at your feet, Johnny. Does one classmate's opinion matter that much?" 

"Consider it an ego thing." Johnny shrugs. They pull up at Peter's house, but neither of them make a move to leave the car. Johnny turns the radio off and turns back to Peter again. "So... Did my plan work? Do you like me any better now?" 

Peter snorts, amused. "How about we're friendly rivals and leave it at that?" 

"Friendly rivals? Okay. I can do friendly rivals." Johnny grins at him and then leans over across Peter to open the car door for him. "See you around, Parker." 

"See you around, Storm." Peter stands on his sidewalk and waves goodbye to Johnny as he drives away. 

He's definitely getting more than he bargained for with this project. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> johnny definitely goes viral on tiktok at least once a week


	6. when your head caught flame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: food, supervillain related school alarms, off screen gun violence
> 
> chapter title from buzzcut season by lorde

Patrol goes by quickly that night. Everything's quiet when he goes out, which probably means people are planning something bigger, but Peter doesn't question too much. He's glad to have some more time to actually sleep at night. Not to mention, he gets a chance to go over the notes from his and Johnny's interview with Hawkeye. He still thinks it's pretty ridiculous that they're interviewing heroes themselves, but that's mostly because Peter feels like an idiot every time he has to pretend to meet a hero for the first time as Peter Parker. 

He goes to school the next day with all his homework done, well rested, and in a much better mood than usual. It's amazing what a few more hours of sleep at night will do to a person. He knows he feels a little better about being around school, but he doesn't realize how odd he's actually acting until Gwen sits down across from him at lunch and stares at him, clearly waiting for him to say something. Doesn't ask anything, just stares. 

Peter frowns at her between bites of his PB&J. "What? Do I have something on my face?" 

Gwen rolls her eyes. "No. I'm just wondering what happened yesterday between you and Johnny Storm." 

"Me and Johnny Storm?" Peter scoffs, even though he does get a strange flutter in his stomach. Probably just worried that he'll get found out for why he really dislikes him. "Why would you ever think something happened between me and Johnny Storm? The only reason I talk to him now is because of that stupid project." 

"Uh huh, okay. Well, let's look at facts, why don't we? You disappear from class yesterday with Johnny Storm - and don't try to say you didn't, because the window in Hudley's classroom gave us all a perfect view of you getting into his car. You two do whatever it is you did yesterday. You come to school today and not only have you not complained about whatever happened yesterday, but Johnny's walked past you half a dozen times and you haven't glared at him once. That's a new record for you," Gwen points out. She counts everything out on her fingers then goes back to staring at him while she waits for a response. 

Damn. That's all true, though Peter hadn't realized how obvious it all was. He'd just figured that friendly rivals shouldn't glare at one another in the hallways, so he'd tried to cut down on it. He didn't think it was  _ that  _ obvious. "If you must know, we went to interview Hawkeye for a project and then called a sort of truce on the drive back to my place. We're friendly rivals now, instead of arch enemies." 

Gwen laughs. "Peter, I think it's more like now he's your friendly rival instead of arch enemy, because Johnny's never felt that way towards you. Honestly, I think he'd be your friend if you gave him a chance, He's friends with everybody." 

"He's popular, so everyone throws themselves at him and he lets them because he likes the attention. Big difference to being friends with everybody," Peter corrects. Though it is kind of true that Johnny had never seemed to hold any ill will towards Peter. Probably because he doesn't know who he really is. "Can we not talk about Johnny Storm during our lunch break? I'm gonna go have to sit next to him during history later today and I could use the break from him for a little while." 

"Sure, Pete, but I have a feeling you're going to need to think about Johnny Storm once and for all sooner or later." 

***

The project with Johnny is going pretty well, to be honest. Peter thought it would be one of those group projects where he ended up doing everything while the rest of the group took credit, but Johnny's been surprisingly helpful. They're working pretty slowly, seeing as they have two months to do it, but they've botten some steady work done and Johnny's helped just as much. He's shockingly good at finding sources, beyond just flexing his superhero connections for interviews. Peter thinks Reed might be helping, but he won't turn down the help from one of his favorite scientists in the world. 

There's also the very nerdy side of Peter that is undeniably excited that Johnny's bringing Captain America to class because of the project. He grew up with superheroes and they're one of his biggest influences in doing what he does. He's met them a few times as Spider-Man, but it's usually under high stress situations and he knows quite a few of the well established superheroes don't like him. He's a vigilante, after all. So getting to meet one of the most famous heroes he knows as a student with no baggage? It sounds like the best day ever. 

He wakes up early on Thursday morning, not even feeling the exhaustion from patrolling the night before. He's too fired up thinking about Cap. Double period history, when Cap's going to come in to talk to them, is after lunch and it just can't come quickly enough. He spends all his morning classes staring at the clock and willing the time to pass faster. He loves school, but it's no comparison to spending ninety minutes with Captain America. 

When the bell finally rings to head to history, Peter can't pack all his things up quickly enough. He's leaving an AP Literature class he shares with Johnny, who meets him at the door to walk with him to their history classroom. Johnny grins brightly and winks at him. 

"Excited about today, huh?" he asks. 

"Yes," Peter admits. But he's quick to add, "Don't think this means I think you're relying on nepotism any less. It's just a little more fun when the rest of us get to enjoy some of it, too." 

"All right, I see how it is." Johnny laughs and bumps his shoulder up against Peter's before going ahead to get to their classroom first. 

That feels weird, the casual touch, in a way Peter doesn't know how to define, but he ignores it in favor of hurrying to follow Johnny to the classroom. He has a feeling that seating arrangements will be completely ignored today in favor of trying to sit as close to Cap as possible. Mr. Hudley had told them all about the surprise in class yesterday, but no one had really believed him. Peter wouldn't have either if he hadn't seen the actual confirmation. 

Still, he gets a rush of excitement through him when he walks in and there's Captain America, leaning up against their teacher's desk and making small talk with Mr. Hudley like this is a totally normal occurrence. He's also brought the Falcon along, who's sitting down on one of the desks and fiddling with his phone. It seriously might be one of the best days of Peter's life. This is what he'd imagined his life would be like when he became a superhero. Just a damn shame he actually had to make friendly with Johnny to get it. 

Not that Johnny seems to think it's a shame. He just grins at Peter when he walks in and waves him over. His backpack and things are spread out over two desks, saving both seats, but he's standing between Cap and Falcon, making small talk, it seems. Peter's not sure how he feels about sitting next to Johnny when they're not working on their project and he definitely doesn't feel worthy of just hanging around casually with two of the coolest superheroes in the world right now. 

But Johnny doesn't seem like he'll take no for an answer and the rest of their classmates are starting to walk in and gape in disbelief at what's happening. Peter's never been  _ too  _ petty, but there's undoubtedly a thrill to knowing they all think he's a meek little nerd, but he's the type that gets to go and say hi to superheroes in their classroom. (He's also the type that actually is a superhero, but it's not like he can tell them that.) So he goes over and lets Johnny throw an arm around his shoulders, like they're best of friends and not just reluctant acquaintances brought together by chance. 

"This is Peter Parker, my partner for the project and second smartest student in our grade, right after Gwen Stacy, who'll probably come in a few minutes late, because her class before this is on the other side of the building," Johnny introduces. And, okay, Peter thought Johnny barely knew their full names, let alone their rankings or what classes they're coming and going from. He can't dwell on it much, because Johnny continues and nudges at Peter to hold his hand out. "Peter, this is Steve and Sam, who you probably know from TV."

Peter nods and scrambles to shake their hands, hoping he doesn't embarrass himself too much with his eagerness. At least he knows his handshake is good enough. Strong and confident, like Uncle Ben had taught him. "Of course I know them. Mr. Rogers, Mr. Wilson, it's an honor to meet you both. Thank you for coming to talk to our class. I know everyone really appreciates it." 

"Of course! Knowledge is the strongest superpower." Steve beams at him with that picture perfect, media ready grin and  _ wow _ , Peter wishes he were about ten years older and Steve Roger's type. 

Sam, on the other hand, just groans from where he's sitting. "Steve, man, we haven't even started the official talk yet. You can save all the corny soundbites for later. That poor kid doesn't need to hear them all twice. It's nice to meet you, Peter. Johnny definitely talked you up when he was getting us to agree to this. And call me Sam." 

"You can just call me Steve, too," Steve adds. "We're trying to be cool superheroes. You know, hip and in touch with the youth." 

"Please don't ever say that again, Steve." Sam shakes his head and stands up from the desk to go pull some note cards out of Steve's back pocket. "Sorry, boys, I need to go over talking points with Steve to make sure he doesn't say anything like that in front of everyone else. You two sit tight, we'll start soon." 

Peter goes to sit back down where Johnny saved him a seat, even if it feels a little weird. Weird or not, he can't help but look over to Johnny when he sits down and grin at him. "Talked me up, huh?" 

"Oh, shush. I was trying to convince them that coming to talk to a classroom of high schoolers was a good way to spend their Thursday afternoon, I had to use every weapon at my disposal," Johnny explains. 

"All right, Storm. It's too late anyway. I know you think I'm smart." 

And considering they're not really friends, Peter is way too pleased about that. He's still grinning to himself when Steve and Sam start talking. They introduce themselves to the class, as if either of them need any introduction, and both share a little bit about their road towards becoming superheroes and the work they've done since then. It's things they've all read about and seen in the news dozens of times, of course, but everyone still hangs on to every word they say. It's way cooler to hear it in person, after all. 

Mostly, Steve and Sam both seem to want this to be more of a Q and A. They know that everyone in the room has read all their Wikipedia pages and watched all the famous clips from battles on YouTube. They're there to fill in the gaps and answer project related questions, not just to get gaped at. (And, in the case of quite a few of their classmates, to have people take not so subtle pictures for their Instagrams.) Peter just sits back for this part, letting others have the first go at asking questions. He already got private access to an Avenger with Johnny, after all. It seems only fair he leave this moment for the others. 

He takes notes, though, half paying attention as people ask all the typical questions. When did you decide you wanted to help people like this? Do you think you'll ever retire? What's the most memorable battle you've ever fought? Things like that. The usual type of questions people ask during things like that. Peter thinks it's cool to hear it from them, but he knows none of this is exactly life changing. It'll be great filler material for their projects, though. 

Until, of course, Kim Muller decides to remind everyone that she takes their school newspaper too seriously and wants to be a reporter someday, by asking their first controversial question of the day. "You're both state sanctioned heroes and work in teams that hold each other accountable, even when the government might not. You handle the big bad guys, the kind that threaten us all, but most of us never actually get to see or interact with. More and more these days, the types of dangers regular people like us come across is being stopped by vigilantes, who operate independently and with no oversight. Do you think they bring more harm than good to their communities? Or are you in favor of recent legislation to crack down on vigilantes?"

There's a couple of groans in the room, from people who probably wanted this to stay light hearted and fun instead of political. their teacher scrambles to let Steve and Sam know that they don't have to answer the question if they don't want to. Steve stops him with a quick hand gesture, though. Actually, the hand gesture shushes the entire classroom. It's the Captain America power. 

"That's quite all right. I don't mind answering the difficult questions. Those are usually the most important," he says and makes sure to look them all in the eye while doing so, so they all internalize it properly. He really is just a walking media trained dream. "That's obviously a difficult question for men in our position to answer, since some of our superiors probably wouldn't look too kindly on us encouraging anyone to break the law. And, of course, we can't paint all vigilantes with the same brush. Men like the Punisher do more harm than good when they try to be judge, jury, and executioner. Most vigilantes, though, like Daredevil or Spider-Man? They're just good people trying to help their communities in any way they can and how could I possibly fault them for that? I'd be a hypocrite if I did, considering I broke the law about half a dozen times trying to get the US Army to take me. Sam? Anything you want to add?" 

Peter is probably making very obvious heart eyes at the both of them right now, but he can't bring himself to care. Captain America just referred to him and called him a good person. Of course, Steve doesn't know Spider-Man is sitting in the front row of this classroom, but that just makes it better. Peter is just about to scoot his desk closer without an ounce of shame, so he can catch every word Sam says when he, hopefully, gives Spidey a few compliments as well. 

Unfortunately, Sam doesn't get a chance to answer. The alarm starts going off, stopping Sam before he even gets to answer. It's their alarm for lockdown drills, though judging by how pale their teacher goes, Peter doubts it's a drill. There's a nervous scramble in the classroom of people trying to figure out what's going on, just before the intercom crackles to life.

"Good afternoon, Midtown High. You probably all know me. My name is Hammerhead. A little birdie told me that a certain Johnny Storm attends this school and as I'm sure you can imagine, that sort of information is valuable to a man like me. This is all very simple. You bring me Johnny Storm and you all go home. We can do this one of two ways. Johnny, you can make your way here to the office before anyone gets hurt or you can try to put up a fight and my men light up on the school. Your choice, Johnny boy. And don't get any funny ideas about fighting back or..." There's a chuckle, further back from the microphone, and then a brief scuffle that's ended with a gunshot. They would have probably heard it here in the classroom if it hadn't been drowned out by screams from their classmates. "Or else you know what happens." 

Oh, boy. Peter's Spidey suit under his clothes suddenly feels ten times heavier. He's going to have to find some way to sneak out and help out as Spider-Man. Just his luck that he can't even have one fun day with Captain America and his classmates without some overly ambitious New York criminal ruining the thing.


	7. young flame burn soft

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: gun violence
> 
> song title from fever pitch by rainbow kitten surprise

The lockdown alarm is still going off and the bullet's still ringing in their ears, but Johnny's already on his feet, scowling and holding a steady flame up his left arm. "Bastards can't even let a guy go to school, huh? I'll show him!"

"Cool it, Storm. Hammerhead has two guys here he didn't account for. Let's make sure we use that to our advantage instead of jumping in head first," Steve advises. 

He goes over and puts a hand on Johnny's shoulder so he'll calm down. Seriously, it's like a super power. Peter would appreciate it more if he weren't so busy trying to figure out how he's going to get out of here and get to work as Spider-Man. For now, he just presses himself up against the wall like a scared student, though he's really just making sure he has a direct line out of this classroom so he can leave at the first chance he gets. 

Steve grabs a bag from under Hudley's desk and pulls out his shield then tosses it over to Sam. Peter would find it weird they travel with equipment to a school talk, but Peter doesn't go anywhere without his suit and web shooters, so he can't really blame them. Johnny doesn't have anything, just his flames, but he's clearly itching to go. Steve and Sam start trying to get the students to line up in corners or behind their desks before they confront Hammerhead's guys, but they're interrupted by someone throwing open the classroom door. 

"Hey, boys, he's in here!" one of the Maggia boys calls out. 

He barges in with his rifle held up, which causes another round of screams and scrambling around to hide. Steve throws the shield at him to knock the gun out of his hands and another handful of Hammerhead's guys come running in. It's exactly the distraction Peter was waiting for and amidst the chaos and smoke from Johnny, he slips away. There's plenty of students trying to make a run for it in the hallways and he's very clearly not Johnny Storm, so all of Hammerhead's men are happy to ignore him as they follow the flames towards Johnny. 

Peter runs straight towards the bathroom, which is blessedly empty. He's incredibly adept at quick changes by now and some thirty seconds later, he's completely in his suit and wearing his web shooters on his wrist. It's always a risk showing up as Spider-Man somewhere Peter Parker just was, but he can't just let one of his bad guys destroy his school and threaten his classmates. He at least has the common sense to leave the bathroom through its window and swing back into the building through another window, so he can at least pretend he was just passing by. 

He comes swinging in through a hallway window, which shatters as he does. He's sure he'll get some heat for that, but right now, he just cares about stopping Hammerhead. He'll take the bad press later. A loud entrance is good, too, because it means everyone in the hallway stops firing at Johnny and instead turns to stare at Peter. Sam, at least, has enough sense to encourage students to take the chance to leave the building instead of staring at him. 

Peter waves gleefully at everyone, always a bit of a class clown in the suit, and pitches his voice slightly lower, like he used to do before starting T. "Hi, boys! I was just swinging by, trying to find a good food truck now that the lunch rush is over, and I heard some shooting in here. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" 

"The boss is going to be very happy to see you, little spider," one of them says, then aims a gun at him and starts shooting. 

Predictable, all of them. Peter jumps and swerves to get behind them, using the moment of confusion to grab two by his webs and yank so they crash their heads against each other. They crumple down to the ground and Peter hums in satisfaction. He turns to Johnny and makes sure his body language expresses cockiness. "Well, that's two for me and I just got here. What's your count, Torch?" 

"I'm beginning to think you're stalking me, Spidey," Johnny teases. He's still got the frightened, wild look in his eyes like he always does in battle, but he does grin at him. 

There's another round of bullets, but Peter's spidey senses are dulled by Steve pulling them down to take refuge behind him and his shield. He nods once in greeting at Peter. "Good to have back up, Spider-Man, but maybe you boys can chat later and focus on stopping Hammerhead right now." 

"How about you and Sam handle the goons and getting students out while Spidey and I go to the main office and deal with Hammerhead?" Johnny suggests. 

They agree quickly and Peter takes off with Johnny. High school hallways don't really lend themselves for swinging, but Peter does save some time by getting to walk on the walls around students. Johnny flies close to the ceiling, which makes Peter briefly wonder if all his clothes are outfitted with unstable molecules. Peter makes it to the office first, mostly out of spite at the thought of letting Johnny win, and practically kicks down the door in his haste to go inside. 

Hammerhead is inside, leaning back on some shitty office chair like it's a throne. In the corner, Peter spots their secretary, slumped over and bleeding from a gunshot wound. She's still breathing, though. Peter knows they'll have to make this fight quick, so she can get the help she needs. Less puns, more punching bad guys. 

"Ah, Spider-Man! Well, isn't it my lucky day. Here I am, trying to get Johnny Storm and hoping he'll lead me to you, but you come right to me. Don't I just feel like a little kid on Christmas?" Hammerhead leers at him and gestures for his two goons in the office to get him and Johnny. 

"Try not to burn the building down!" Peter yells to Johnny before using the wall as leverage to jump over Hammerhead and take out the two goons. 

Being stuck indoors in a cramped room means a lot of Peter's moves are useless, but it's also a disadvantage to Hammerhead's guys. After all, it's hard to take him out with a bullet if Peter keeps moving around and their boss is right there a few steps away. Johnny's having trouble too, seeing as they're in a room with a  _ lot  _ of paperwork and walls that are prooobably not antiflammable. Still, he makes do with a few well aimed fire balls and punches. Until he makes the mistake of aiming a punch at Hammerhead's face and ends up ramming straight into the steel reinforcement under there. 

Peter winces sympathetically. He grabs one of the fallen rifles with his webs and swings it around, taking out the two goons in the process and hitting Hammerhead in between the eyes. The gun just crumples against the steel there, but it does distract him long enough that Peter can shoot some web in his eyes, blinding him. A few more quick taps and he has Hammerhead wrapped up in webs without any leverage to break free, even with his super strength. Peter knocks him over with a tap and leaves him pathetically on the floor for the authorities. 

"C'mon, Storm, you never punch Hammerhead in the face. The steel is basically his whole schtick," Peter teases. Johnny grumbles and throws a balled up paper at him. Probably some kid's tardy slip. 

Peter hears sirens of the authorities finally getting here and he sticks his head out the window to yell that there's a victim who needs help in the main office. Once he's sure they've heard him, he goes up to the roof to avoid the cops, They're not always his biggest fan. Johnny follows him up there, even though Peter really wants to be alone so he can change and get back to class as quickly as possible. Johnny keeps following him, though, frowning a little. 

"Hey... When we went to the office, you weren't following me. How'd you even know where the main office is?" Johnny asks. 

Damn. Peter hadn't thought that one, through. He tries not to let the sudden flare of nerves show and shrugs casually. "Peter Parker told me when he texted me for help." 

"Wait." Johnny gapes at him. "You know Peter Parker?" 

"Sure. He takes all the pictures of me for the Daily Bugle," Peter explains. Technically not a lie. Peter not so subtly glances at the growing crowd in front of the building of evacuated students. "Shouldn't you be with your classmates, Johnny?" 

"I guess so. See you around, Spidey!" 

Peter has to swing away for about half a block, because he knows Johnny and a few other students are probably watching him, but he rounds back as soon as he can and sneaks back into the bathroom so he can change back into his civilian clothes. It had been a risky play, but he manages to rejoin the chaos as Peter Parker and have no one notice he'd been gone at all. A successful mission as Spider-Man, if he does say so himself. 

He spots most of his history class bunched up around Mr. Hudley and Sam Wilson at the corner, so he jogs over to rejoin them, mumbling some excuse about having gotten lost in the shuffle of cops and people trying to leave the building. Johnny visibly relaxes when he sees Peter again, though Peter suspects it's more to do with needing a partner for the project. He waves him over and Peter goes to stand between him and Gwen before he can rethink it too much. 

"Sorry we had to cut this short, kids," Sam is saying. "Steve's talking to the authorities and I'm going to have to head over in a second to do the same. Hopefully we'll be able to do something to make for the time we lost, but if not, I know I speak for Steve and I both when I say it's been a pleasure meeting you kids." 

There's a quick round of polite applause before Sam goes off to join Steve. Peter's jealous of all the official superheroes pretty often, but having to stick around to talk to the authorities after everything is definitely one part of it that they can keep. Mr. Hudley reminds them all not to leave or stray too far and then things dissolve, rather predictably, into a hangout session. Some people even get snacks from a nearby bodega to turn it into a sort of second lunch period. These things are scary, but everyone in the city is rather jaded by now. 

Peter sits down at the curb with Gwen at one side and Johnny on the other. It's a little weird and Gwen keeps giving him funny looks, but hey, Hammerhead just attacked their school, so it's not like it's the strangest thing to happen to them today. Johnny nudges Peter and grins at him knowingly. Peter already knew it was coming, but he feigns ignorance and just looks at him inquisitively until Johnny finally breaks down and asks. 

"Dude! I didn't know you knew Spider-Man!" Johnny exclaims. "I can't believe I had to find out from him instead of you. That's so cool. Thanks for calling him in as backup. I would have totally been able to handle it myself, but y'know, it's good to get things handled quicker." 

"He told you, huh? We're just professional colleagues. I take pictures of him sometimes," Peter explains. He shrugs, like it's no big deal. If anyone knew the whole truth, they'd give him an Oscar for this performance.

"Don't sell yourself short, Peter," Gwen scolds. She leans in around him to talk to Johnny directly. "His pictures of Spider-Man are amazing. He gets right in the middle of all the action. I'm always telling him to stop putting himself in danger like that, but it's hard to argue with the results. You've probably seen them before. The Bugle runs them all the time, they just give him credit with the tiniest font imaginable." 

"Oh, Reed doesn't let us have copies of the Daily Bugle at home. He says it's all garbage. But I'll have to sneak one in to get a look at your pictures, Parker," Johnny promises. "So... Give us the inside scoop. Do you know any embarrassing secrets about Spider-Man?" 

"Like I said. We're just professional colleagues. We barely talk. We just met Captain America and the Falcon. Can't we talk about that instead of Spider-Man?" Peter suggests. 

They take the bait and start talking about how cool it was to see them in action, while Peter just sort of sits quietly and nods along. He wishes he'd thought up some other lie to tell them. It's hard enough to keep his secret under wraps without giving people excuses to start thinking of both his identities at the same time. Especially Johnny, who's probably the only person that's talked to him as both Peter and Spidey at length. It's fine, though. He's kept it a secret this long, he can survive one little school project. 

Six more weeks until the term's over. No big deal. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really appreciate all the comments, kudos, and love I've been getting from y'all. thank you so much! <3


	8. I'll complicate the most of the mantra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: food
> 
> chapter title comes from 'Can I Call You Tonight?' by Dayglow

{sms from: Storm} okay so here's a fun thought I had

{sms from: Storm} you take pictures of spidey right? and you're good at it, I looked them up online

{sms from Storm} what if you took pictures of ME looking really badass and then I can put them on my instagram?

Peter wakes up to those messages from Johnny on Sunday morning, along with way more emojis than is appropriate to send someone at 4 in the morning. Johnny was probably up dealing with the Skrull threat to the International Space Station that was all over the news last night. Meanwhile, Peter had been sound asleep in bed, because as cool as the thought of going into space is, it's entirely out of Spider-Man's jurisdiction. Instead, he'd swung around for a bit, stopped a couple of low level muggings, and been back home and in bed before three. A pretty good day by Peter Parker standards. 

He doesn't bother replying to the message. He's sure Johnny's still asleep and besides, they're meeting up for their project today. He'll just turn Johnny down in person. Besides, getting to lounge in bed for a while and enjoy Sunday brunch with Aunt May is the best part of the week. He's not going to ruin it with a back and forth about Johnny's ego. 

Peter gets up just before the clock hits noon, feeling well rested, which is a depressingly rare occurrence. Aunt May has challah french toast and her homemade cold brew with whipped cream on top. Peter had once accidentally sent her a meme about brunch without iced coffee being homophobic and she'd taken it a smidge too seriously. He's not going to complain, though. He loves iced coffee and not having to pay New York city prices for it? Even better. 

He sits down across from her and puts a small mountain of french toast on his plate. He used to think that nothing could increase his appetite more than getting bit by a radioactive spider did, but then he'd gone and started testosterone for his sixteenth birthday. Now it's just a small miracle he hasn't managed to bankrupt their house with how much he eats. And still when Aunt May walks past to sit down, she adds another slice of french toast and a bowl of orange slices onto his plate. 

"A growing boy needs to eat enough," she says, ruffling up his hair. 

"You'll never be happy until you can put me on my side and roll me around." Peter laughs. Not that he won't eat it all. It's amazing how many calories being a superhero burns. "I'm going to meet up with Johnny for our project again today, so if you need any shopping done, text me a list and I'll get it on my way home." 

"Oh don't worry about that. You just enjoy your day with Johnny," she insists. 

"We're working together on a project. It's not a hangout," Peter reminds her. 

Aunt May shrugs not so innocently. "Sure. I just think it's funny that you've been mentioning him almost as much as Gwen these days." 

"Because we're partners on a project. Don't get any ideas, Aunt May," he warns her. 

"Don't worry. No ideas going through my head at all." 

It's pretty obvious she is still thinking things that aren't true at all, but Peter knows trying to argue against it some more will just help convince her something really is going on so he drops it. It's hard to make small talk without bringing up Johnny, since the news and all the newspaper covers are about the Skrull threat the Fantastic Four had stopped last night, but Peter manages it. He asks about one of Aunt May's friends with shul who'd just gotten hip surgery and she starts talking and talking until suddenly, all of their brunch has gone by. It's a foolproof strategy. 

As much as Peter would have liked to stick around with her for a while longer, he has to start the trip to the Baxter Building, so he packs his backpack and bids Aunt May goodbye. He doesn't dread it as much as last week, when he and Johnny hadn't yet come to their tenuous sort of agreement, but he does still feel a tang of disappointment at not getting to spend Sunday with his aunt. He's busy so often with school, the Bugle, and Spider-Man that he doesn't get many opportunities to just hang around at home.

Summer's coming soon, though. He'll still be working, but not having to worry about his school work will leave him with way more time. That's his hope at least and he just keeps repeating it to himself when he spends the entire subway ride trying to catch up on his reading for English class. He wishes he could go back to his freshman year, when he thought trying to keep up with just schoolwork, no Spider-Man or Bugle, was hard enough. 

Peter's dangerously close to making plans to run away to an abandoned island after thinking about it for too long, but he's distracted by Johnny leaning up against the entrance of the Baxter Building, clearly waiting for Peter to get there. He waves when he sees him and jogs up to Peter in the middle of the street. 

"Hey!" he says, far too chipper for someone who definitely didn't get to sleep before five in the morning.

"Hey, Johnny," Peter replies. "You know that I know the way up to your apartment, right? And that you didn't have to come down and pick me up at the front of the building? If anything, that would have been more useful last week." 

"I know. But here's the thing, Peter..." Johnny swings an arm around Peter's shoulders in that friendly way he does with everyone - seriously, Johnny touches his friends more than most people touch their romantic partners - and starts walking him down the block. "I nearly died last night. I mean... Not really, Sue would have definitely caught me, but I did get extinguished up in the middle of the air and fell a couple hundred feet. That's scary, dude! Really makes a man rethink his choices in life. Like wasting such a lovely April Sunday indoors. There's a great ice cream and bubble tea place two blocks away. I figured we could go there?" 

"As much as I can appreciate your mid-battle existential crisis, I kind of need to get our work for this project done. I don't really have a ton of freetime, Johnny..." Peter explains, wincing a little at the thought of having come all this way for nothing when he could have been at home doing his other homework or spending some rare time together with Aunt May. 

"We'll work at the shop! They have tables and it's pretty quiet in the back," Johnny promises. 

He's already dragged Peter half of the way there anyway, so it's not like he has much of a choice. So he sighs and stops fighting it. Johnny Storm always gets his way. It's one of the reasons he's annoyed by him so much, isn't it? 

When they get to the shop, Peter lets Johnny step up to the counter first under the guise of needing a minute to look through the unfamiliar menu. Really, he's just trying to see what the cheapest thing he can get is. He and Aunt May get by, but part of that is because they're not the type of people who just spontaneously decide to go out and waste money on ice cream and bubble tea. He's pretty much set on just ordering some water and saying he ate on the way here, when Johnny tugs him closer. 

"And then whatever he wants," Johnny says. "My treat, Peter."

"Oh." Peter scrambles around for a second, trying to decide what to have. He always feels pretty gross taking his friends' money when they go out, but he has a feeling Johnny would be the type to feel offended if Peter turns it down. "Um... Just a plain milk tea, I guess? Small, please." 

"Don't be silly. Make it a large. And you need to get ice cream, too! Do you like mint chocolate chip? Who am I kidding, everyone with a brain likes mint chocolate chip. Throw in a large mint chocolate chip, too," Johnny instructs. 

Peter tries to complain, but it gets swallowed up in his throat and Johnny pays far too quickly. He leads Peter over to a table, along with the number for their order. Not that he really needs it. He's Johnny Storm and he lives a block and a half away from this place. Peter's sure everyone here knows him by name by now, whether from seeing him on TV or from frequent visits. Peter settles his backpack down between his feet and pulls his laptop out so they can start their homework while they wait for their order. 

Johnny doesn't seem to be in any rush. He just leans back in his chair and grins at Peter. "Don't think I haven't noticed that you didn't respond to my suggestion. I think I would make an excellent subject for some of your pictures. You could show me off looking all dashing and heroic and stuff." 

"Trust me, it wasn't an accident that I didn't respond. I get paid for those pictures of Spider-Man, I don't just do them out of the kindness of my heart. Besides, you ego doesn't need any more stroking," Peter says. He shudders dramatically at the mere thought of Johnny even cockier than he already is. 

Johnny laughs. "Hey! I thought we agreed to be friendly rivals. You can't say I have a big ego. That's not what friendly rivals do." 

"Oh, it totally is. They just do it in a friendly way. See?" Peter grins at him, huge and theatrical. "Friendly!" 

"Sure, sure, whatever. Okay, so, confession time. While thinking for a split second that I was falling to my death definitely played into coming here today, there was something else I was hoping to ask you while we were here. And it's a little weird, be warned." 

"Johnny Storm with ulterior motives? I don't believe it. Fine, hit me with your weird question. But  _ only  _ because you have enough common sense to like mint chocolate chip." 

"Dude, mint chocolate chip is the  _ best  _ ice cream flavor. Ben insists on stocking our fridge with chocolate swirl because he's an idiot. Anyway, stop distracting me! Right, so, my question. See, the Fantastic Four are throwing a community seder for passover in a few weeks. Ben's going to give a talk, we're donating some money to the community center, y'know. The usual superhero PR stuff. And we all get a plus one and I was wondering if you wanted to tag along with me." Before Peter's brain can  _ completely  _ short circuit, Johnny is quick to add, "As a friend, I mean. Obviously." 

Now, just because Peter's brain didn't fully shut down doesn't mean he doesn't come close. He stares blankly at Johnny for a minute, trying to figure out if maybe he'd misheard him. A staff member comes by to drop off their drinks and ice cream and still, Peter is staring at Johnny. Johnny stares back at him, trying - and failing, which is pretty neat - to hide how flustered he is at the waiting. Peter reaches to take a sip of his bubble tea, still locked in confused eye contact with Johnny. 

Finally, after taking his time with a chewy tapioca ball, Peter speaks again. "You do realize how weird it is to ask me to be your platonic date to a passover seder, right?" 

"Ugh. I guess the whole taking you out to bubble tea probably didn't help," Johnny groans. "I'm not trying to be weird, I promise. I'm not like... coming onto you or whatever. It's just that... Well, these charity events can get pretty boring sometimes. There aren't too many people our age there, obviously. And you're like... the only person I can invite who couldn't care less that I'm the Human Torch or that you'll get to meet the team. Like, sure, you'll geek out over Reed, but I'm pretty sure it's because you're a massive nerd, not because he's a superhero. Most people would throw themselves at me to be my plus one so they can say they had a fancy dinner with the Fantastic Four, but I'm pretty sure you'd spend most of it telling me that you hate me and would rather be anywhere else, which... is pretty cool. So what do you say? Be my plus one to the seder? I'll buy you as much bubble tea as you want until the end of the school year." 

Peter cuts him off, shaking his head quickly, before Johnny keeps going. He's pretty sure Johnny could rant about this for a while and just keep digging himself in a bigger and bigger hole. "If you go around buying me bubble tea, no one's going to believe this is just a friendly date. And that's rule one. I don't need anyone going around saying I'm your latest conquest and I'm pretty sure you don't want people going around saying you have a  _ boy _ friend." 

"Oh, actually I don't..." Johnny trails off and just shakes his head. "Don't worry. I'll be super clear that we're just friends and you're doing me a favor. I'll throw in that we're friendly rivals, too, if you want." 

"Well, in that case... Let's do it. I hope you're ready for a friendly competition over who can eat the most maror in one go," Peter says, bumping his plastic cup up against Johnny's like a toast. His stomach does a weird flip flopping thing, but Peter blames it on eating too much challah french toast. Aunt May can overdo it sometimes. 

"Oh, c'mon, Parker. My body literally turns into flame and you think a little maror can outdo me. You've got a nasty surprise coming for you in about ten days." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is extra long and my absolute favorite I've written so far, so... get excited!


	9. don't know how to explain how i feel with you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so I got the chapters mixed up and it's actually chap 10 that's my favorite but this one is also very Jewish and lovely and I hope you'll all enjoy it!! 
> 
> chapter title is from 'If I'm smiling (it's because I'm thinking of Zac Efron)' by Rachel Maria Cox

Peter didn't say anything about the passover invitation to Gwen. He'd learned his lesson when he came home that evening, told Aunt May, and had to spend the rest of the evening putting up with all her teasing and knowing glances. He got it. He did. He would probably be having a great time making fun of Aunt May if she was brought together with her arch enemy by chance and wound up befriending him to the point of going to a seder with him. But it's no fun to be on the receiving end! 

Besides, he'd already explained several times about how they weren't enemies anymore, but friendly rivals, and she still kept on teasing, so clearly, Aunt May was being belligerent on purpose. That was the story Peter would stick to. 

So when he got to school that week, he made no mention at all about his new plans for the upcoming weekend, even when Gwen asked him about his passover plans. He'd just shrugged and said he wasn't sure yet. Thankfully, Johnny hadn't mentioned it either and blown his cover. They'd just gone the entire week and a half like nothing at all had changed and when the event night came by, Peter dresses up in the nicest suit he owned and pretends not to see the text from Gwen asking if he wants to Skype. He'd tell her about his night later. Maybe. 

Aunt May stops him at the door, no matter how hard Peter had tried to sneak away undetected. He loves his aunt, but he's pretty sure he's going to explode if she teases him about Johnny Storm one more time. She doesn't mention Johnny when she grabs his shoulders by the door, though. She just smiles at him and Peter could see the way her eyes shimmered with tears. It fills Peter with a rather immediate dose of guilt for having ever tried to sneak away in the first place. 

"Look at you. You look so grown up! So handsome, boychik," she praises, patting his shoulders and then smoothing down the front of his shirt. 

It's a suit Peter had gotten for his sixteenth birthday that's probably been paid for twice over already with all the tailoring it's had to accommodate his not quite traditionally masculine body at first, then the growth spurts and muscles that going on testosterone - and spider DNA in his blood, not that his Aunt knows that - had caused. Still, his aunt never seems to mind. 

Peter shrugs, feeling awfully self conscious for a guy that swung around in spandex making endless quips. "I look okay, I guess." 

"More than okay. You look all grown up. Your Uncle Ben would be so proud to see you like this," she says. She reaches up to dab at her eyes and laughs, embarrassed. "Oh, look at me. Crying like an old woman." 

Peter's heart twinges with familiar guilt, the type that always rears its head when Aunt May mentions his Uncle Ben. As it turns out, the only thing in the world worse than Jewish guilt is failed superhero guilt. He swallows around the new found lump in his throat and nods stiffly. "You think so? It's just me... Same as ever." 

"I know. And you've made us proud since the day you were born. You were always such a wonderful boy and now you're growing into a wonderful young man. You carry yourself with so much more confidence these days. It's a good look on you, Peter." She reaches up and brushes back some hair that's fallen onto his forehead. It's just this side of too long, starting to curl around his neck and ears and forehead. Peter thinks she's going to tease him about his hippie hair, like she sometimes does, but she just reaches into her pocket and pulls out a well-worn, knitted kippah. "I don't know how religious this seder you're going to is or if it's just a big party, but here. This was your Uncle's. He was wearing it at the oneg where we were introduced and he wore it to our wedding. He's kept it around ever since. He swears it brings him good luck. He lent it to you for your Bar Mitzvah. Maybe you remember? I've had it in a drawer ever since he passed, but... I think he'd want you to have it." 

Peter definitely remembers this. Technically, he owns two kippot of his own. Own with an Captain America design from when he was a little kid and a plain blue one he'd been gifted in the lead up to his Bar Mitzvah. Only he'd forgotten the blue one at home on the Saturday of his Torah reading and Uncle Ben had refused to let Peter go up on the bimah in one of the floppy, mass produced ones in the lobby. So he'd lent Peter his own kippah instead. It's a pretty simple thing, just a standard blue and white pattern, but it feels like the world's best gift in Peter's hands right now. He sniffles and reaches up to wipe away a few tears. "I'd love to wear it tonight, Aunt May. Thank you." 

"Of course, boychik. Of course." She reaches up to settle it on the crown of his head and pin it into place. She adjusts it a few times until it's centered enough for her liking and then pulls back, nodding happily. "Perfect. Go off and enjoy seder with that arch enemy of yours. Don't drink too much wine." 

"Me? Drinking wine before it's legal? Aunt May, who do you think I am?" Peter pretends to be appalled. He laughs, still watery from his tears, and pulls into one last hug before going off to catch a train to Manhattan. Hopefully, it won't be so obvious he'd been crying by the time he gets there. He doesn't need to give Johnny any more fodder to tease him with. 

****

Peter's not really sure what to expect from a seder at Baxter Building. He's pretty sure there'll be a ton of food to sate the superhero appetite, particularly Ben's. He's also sure there'll be some other superheroes there, at least one or two. Maybe some Grimm family members? Some family friends? Peter assumes it's pretty open if Johnny could invite some random classmate, but it also can't be  _ too  _ open, because then Johnny wouldn't have had to worry about only picking one friend to bring along. He also has no idea how religious it'll be. Is it one of those elaborate excuses to just get together and drink wine or are they going to be sitting at the table until midnight listening to Ben go over the haggadah? 

He tries to keep an open mind about it and not expect anything at all. The one thing that hadn't crossed his mind at all was the possibility that there would be paparazzi trying to cover the event. He just can't fathom it. He knows people love superhero content, but he didn't know they loved it enough to just stand around and get pictures of people walking into a religious ceremony. But sure enough, when he rounds the corner to Johnny's street, there's a cluster of reporters and curious onlookers clustering around the entrance. Occasionally, the cameras flash obnoxiously as someone walks in. 

That's... unexpected. And see, it's not that Peter's camera shy - except that without his mask, yes, he totally is - but he doesn't want to get photographed as Peter Parker going to visit the Fantastic Four. He knows it's a longshot, but he doesn't want anyone to see him here like this, then look at a picture of Spider-Man and the Human Torch and start connecting the dots. Not to mention that he doesn't want any of their classmates seeing these pictures later on. No need for people to see that Peter's broken and actually started hanging out with Johnny outside of just their project. 

Peter's frozen on the street corner, wondering if it's too late to back up, when someone taps on his shoulder from behind. When he turns around, Johnny's standing there with a hoodie pulled low over his face. He grins at Peter, seemingly unfazed by all the press. This is probably just standard Fantastic Four life. 

"Hey! We figured you didn't want to go in through the circus up front, so Sue sent me to come escort you through the back entrance," he explains. 

Peter breathes out a sigh of relief. "God bless Susan Storm." 

"Trust me, buddy, that's probably the most used catch phrase in this household." 

Johnny grabs Peter by the wrist, which catches him off guard for half a second, and steers him along to the other side of a block, then down a shady looking ally that winds up having some sort of disguised door that leads them straight to an elevator up to the Fantastic Four penthouse. Peter will have to remember this. It'll be nice to not get stared at like a fanboy every time he comes here for their project. 

Once they're both on the elevator and heading up, Johnny strips out of the hoodie, revealing a formal shirt underneath. He's paired a light blue shirt with rolled up sleeves and fitted khakis, also known as the uniform for straight boys at parties where they need to dress up, but still want to seem casual. Johnny makes it look good, though, which is probably a weird thing for Peter to think, but he just writes it off as his attempt of being a little nicer over the holiday. 

"Okay, so, everyone's set up in an event room with a bunch of tables. I sat us at one kind of to the side with a bunch of Ben's little cousins who really don't want to be here, so if it gets too boring, it'll be super easy to sneak away," Johnny explains. "Also, as a heads up, there's kind of a laundry list of superheroes here." 

"This isn't my first seder, Johnny. I'm pretty sure I could make it through the entire thing without sneaking out. But thanks, I guess? And c'mon, you can't just say 'there's a lot of superheroes here; without giving me names!" Peter insists. 

"Don't go fanboy and make me feel bad about how nonchalant you are with me, okay?" Johnny laughs. "But if you must know, Cap is here, all three of them, Tony Stark, Jennifer Walters, Danny Rand, and T'Challa. Probably half the Inhuman royal family. Oh and Namor usually crashes all our events by midnight, so... don't be surprised if he shows up at some point." 

"Jeez... It's like a superhero convention in there, huh?" Peter laughs nervously. As exciting as that is, he tries to keep the people who interact with him and Spider-Man pretty limited. So meeting all these people as Peter Parker sounds like his worst nightmare. Thankfully, the nerves come off as just any normal person meeting superheroes, so Johnny doesn't linger on it too much. 

He just grins at Peter and bumps their shoulders together. "Don't worry. I'm way cooler than all those people and you seem to handle being around me just fine." 

Peter rolls his eyes and follows Johnny out the elevator. He follows him to the event room, which is just as crowded as Johnny had warned. It's easy to spot all the superheroes immediately. It's not that they give off any special sort of aura, but they're usually the ones with crowds around them full of adoring fans trying to catch their attention. It's pretty obvious and while sort of pathetic, Peter does sort of envy them. They don't have to deal with a constant barrage of tabloid articles about how they're actually causing trouble in their communities. That must be nice. 

Between flare ups of jealousy, all Peter can think is how he does  _ not  _ want to spend too long with any of them and be caught because of his voice or height or some other stupid little thing that only a professional superhero would catch up on. Luckily, Johnny must think Peter's too shy to meet them, because he steers Peter away from the crowds and over to their table. It's still empty, save for one other teenager who barely glances up from his phone when they come over, and Johnny pulls out two chairs for them. 

"I don't know if your aunt wants you home at a certain time, but this thing can easily run until sunrise with the afterparty, so if you change your mind and want to meet them once they've been a little loosened by the wine, we can do that," Johnny promises. 

"Thanks, Johnny. I appreciate it. I'm just a little worried Spider-Man might think I'm cheating on him with all these other heroes," Peter teases. 

"Has he got you on an exclusive contract with him? That makes sense." Johnny laughs. "Don't worry, I won't snitch on you." 

"Much appreciated. So. Please tell me I'm going to get to see Ben acting like some grouchy Jewish grandpa trying to lead this thing." 

"Oh, Parker, you have no idea what's coming for you." 


	10. in the back of this club when I'm wasted on love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: alcohol, implied internalized homophobia
> 
> here's a VERY long chapter that I LOVE with all my heart 
> 
> chapter title from holy by jake edwards

The Baxter Building seder is definitely an interesting experience. Peter hadn't been sure what to expect, but it's really not all that different from any other seder. They start late because it takes way too long for everyone to stop mingling and sit down, it takes another small eternity to actually get started with the Haggadah because Ben and a rabbi he'd invited talk for way too long, and by the time they actually get to food, it's been hours and everyone is desperate to eat. Pretty much like every seder Peter's ever been to before this. 

It does have its moments, though, when Peter is acutely aware that he's not just at a seder, but also, apparently, one of the hot superhero events of the season. There's speeches peppered in throughout the whole night, given more often than not by the superhero attendants. It walks a very thin line between surreal and absurd. All three Captain Americas - and seriously, how does anyone keep track of it all? - give a joint speech - joint might be overstating it, seeing as it's mostly Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson while Bucky Barnes broods in the back and looks intimidating - about escaping Egypt being a metaphor for fighting against injustice and the need to continue the fight until all of us have escaped Egypt. Tony Stark and Danny Rand get into a competition over who can donate more to the community fundraiser that's also a part of the night. Namor does indeed crash the event a little later in the night and he puts on a kippah out of respect, which means he's wandering around in a speedo and kippah, but nothing else. 

Peter's pretty sure he couldn't have come up with any of this even in his wildest dreams. Aunt May's definitely going to have a great time listening to all these stories later. Peter's enjoying some of the pastries laid out for dessert, wondering if the Fantastic Four seder is the type of place to have lengthy post dinner singing and if it'll be just as endearingly chaotic as the rest of the night. Mentally, Peter starts making a list of all the weird things he can imagine happening in the rest of the night. He's only made it to the third weird option (one of the Caps chugging Manischewitz from the shield, for anyone following along at home), when Johnny tugs his sleeve. 

He motions towards the door and mouths 'wanna head out?' at him, as though they need to be sneaky. Peter's pretty sure they could get up and just walk out and no one would notice. Everyone's paying attention to their own table, one of the tables with a superhero, or a combination of the two. And their table is mostly bored teenagers on their phones. Still, Peter humors him and nods before getting out of his chair quietly and rushing out a back door before someone sees them. 

"Sorry, I don't know if you were having a good time in there, but a reliable source informed me that some Asgardians just arrived fashionably late with liquor, so the afterparty is probably going to start in full swing any second now. In my experience, it's better to sort of... ease into that party after being a little buzzed already, not actually be there when it all explodes around you," Johnny explains. 

"Ah. So you're sneaking me away to get me tipsy with you?" Peter asks. And then immediately wants to punch himself in the face, because seriously, did he fall on his head recently and sustain some sort of brain trauma that causes him to say flirty things to Johnny Storm of all people? 

Thankfully, even though he grins and clearly caught it, Johnny doesn't say anything. "We don't have to drink. Sorry, I should have clarified before leaving the main room with you. I also should have warned you about the after party at this thing. You don't have to go. It's getting late anyway. If you want, I can give you a ride back to your aunt's place." 

"No worries. I already texted her that I'd be back really late. And besides, you can't expect me to miss out on a bunch of superheroes partying! Who knows? Maybe I'll get some pictures for the Bugle," he teases. 

"God. Please don't." Johnny snorts and leads Peter down the hallway. "The living quarters are one floor up. We can pick up a bottle of wine and get trashed before going back?" 

They go back to the elevator and one short ride later, they step out to the living room where they usually do their work for their school project. So far, Peter's seen this room, the event room they just left, and the infirmary. Considering how often he works with the Fantastic Four, it feels a little overdue that he sees the rest of their floors, even if it's not as Spider-Man, and he eagerly follows Johnny to the kitchen. Not exactly full of exciting Fantastic Four secrets, but Peter will take what he can get. 

Johnny sits him down at the table and goes over to a little wine fridge tucked into the corner. He crouches down by it and spends a long moment looking through different bottles until finally pulling out a champagne bottle. Peter doesn't know much about champagne, but he knows expensive when he sees it. 

He arches a curious eyebrow at Johnny. "Champagne? Not wine?" 

"Eh. I figure when two friendly rivals sit down to drink together, it's a momentous occasion that deserves some of the good stuff," Johnny explains. He retrieves two champagne flutes from the cabinet and opens the bottle with his usual Johnny Storm flare. He pours out two glasses and puts one down in front of Peter. "Cheers." 

"Won't your sister notice this is missing? Or Ben or Dr. Richards?" Peter asks. Not that it stops him from picking the glass up and having a sip. 

"Probably. But any time they try to scold me for breaking into the liquor cabinet, I remind them that they thought I was old enough to join them on an illegal space mission and that usually shuts them up." 

Peter nearly chokes on his champagne from laughing so much. That's an excellent comeback for just about any argument, he has to admit, and he doesn't even feel guilty now as he takes a second sip of wine. They sit at the kitchen table for a while, drinking glasses of champagne and making meaningless small talk about their project and classmates. It's a little weird, but Peter doesn't mind. He minds even less by the end of the first bottle, when he has a nice buzz going. 

Johnny goes to open a second bottle, but before he can uncork it, he looks Peter over curiously. "Do you like stars, Peter?" 

"That's... a weird question. Even for you." Peter points out. Still, he answers. "Who doesn't like stars? We don't see them much here in the city, but I love the Rose Center." 

"Perfect. I wanna show you something." 

Johnny grabs a second bottle of clear liquid, turns on his heel, and starts walking out of the room. Normally, this is the sort of thing that ends in murder or making out. A few weeks ago, Peter was very clear on which of those options he'd have preferred. (Murder, obviously.) Today, he's actually willing to accept the risk of either option. Preferably neither, but he knows his chances. Of course, he could also just not follow Johnny, but what fun would that be?

They take the stairs another floor up, after Johnny warns him that people have a habit of getting rowdy in the elevator during these parties. The floor Johnny takes them to seems to be where all of Reed's labs are, which... yeah, Peter is freaking out a little on the inside. He can't even imagine all the equipment he'd be able to make for himself if he had access to even half of this equipment. And all the experiments and projects that must be half done inside those labs! Reed's one of the brightest minds on the planet. Peter's sure that history is being made behind these doors. 

But Johnny walks right past the lab doors and takes Peter to a room at the end of the hall. Peter's a little sad to just walk past all the equipment, but he also has enough sense to know that alcohol and expensive lab equipment he doesn't own don't mix well together. Not to mention he's sort of excited to see where Johnny's taking him. 

Johnny passes him one of the bottles to hold and opens a door with his fingerprint and a code that Peter has to force himself not to look at. The room inside has a curved roof, like a dome, and is mostly empty space. There's a table in the corner, some chairs, and a couple of bean bags. Mostly, though, just empty walls and empty floor space. Johnny gestures to one of the bean bags and ushers Peter over while he goes over to a control panel near the table. 

"Welcome to..." Johnny pauses for dramatic effect as he pushes a few buttons on the panel. "The Fantastic Four's personal planetarium." 

The room turns pitch black, except for the gentle light of projected stars, distant planets, and cosmic phenomena on the ceiling. Johnny comes over and sits down on the bean bag chair next to Peter. He uncorks the bottle of champagne and grins over at Peter as he holds it by the neck and takes a swig directly from the bottle. Peter takes it off his hands and takes a drink as well, not even caring about how unhygienic it is. They both have superhero immune systems. They'll be fine. 

"He doesn't have a lot of time anymore, what with saving the world and whatever, but Reed's still fascinated by space travel. He has this set up so it can show him different regions of space at any second," Johnny explains. "I like to come in here sometimes and put it on the Pretty Sky setting. That's literally what it's called, by the way. Pretty Sky. Reed got a little sassy after I complained that real snapshots of space without all the wildcards are pretty, but boring." 

"In Reed's defence, this  _ is  _ a pretty sky. It's beautiful." Peter slides down on the bean bag a bit so he can look up and still have the occasional drink of champagne. It's like being at the Hayden Planetarium, only so much better, because he didn't have to pay or sit between a teenager texting and some toddler whining all show long. 

"It is. New York's great, but you know..." Johnny shrugs casually. "Once you've actually been to space, the New York city stars just don't cut it anymore." 

Peter laughs and completely ruins the quiet moment of...  _ whatever _ is going on here. "God. You are the absolute king of the humble brag, Johnny Storm. You know that?" 

"Oh, I'm well aware,  _ Peter Parker _ ," he bites back, turning his head to grin at him directly. "And I'm damn proud of it." 

"It's decided, then. This champagne is all mine, because I need it to survive the rest of this night with you. You can have this..." Peter pauses to inspect the other bottle. "You can have this Vlad's Vodka. Seriously? I  _ know  _ you guys can afford the nice stuff and you're drinking Vlad's?" 

"Ben makes sure we keep at least one bottle of the cheap stuff around at all times. Says it keeps us honest," Johnny explains. He makes the exchange, though, without much complaint. 

They sit quietly for a while, sipping at their respective bottles and admiring the fake night sky. If he had a planetarium in his house, Peter would probably spend all his time in it. This is definitely the best end of a seder he's ever been to. And sure, part of that is just the buzz from the alcohol talking, but staring up at a beautiful night sky is considerably better than fighting over who takes the leftover brisket home. 

About halfway through the second champagne bottle, Peter sits up straight to roll his sleeves up and get more comfortable. The jacket was already abandoned on a kitchen chair. Once that's done, he lays down, keeping just his head on the edge of the beanbag chair. It makes taking drinks from the bottle a far messier process, but it's far more comfortable. And yes, he's definitely fully tipsy by now, the world spinning just enough to give everything a fun, relaxed edge to it. 

Next to him, Johnny lets out a noise like he's just had an excellent idea and lays down as well. Peter looks over to him and notices how it sent the kippah on his head falling off. It's one of those cheap satin ones, mass produced for synagogues and events like this, and Johnny hadn't even had it pinned down. Honestly, Peter had forgotten he'd had it on. Now that he remembers, as he watches it tumble to the floor, he remembers that Johnny had actually looked unfairly handsome in it. 

Peter reaches for it and plops it down on Johnny's forehead. "Dropped this." 

"Oh, thanks." Johnny laughs. He reaches over to tug Peter's kippah askew as well. His fingers linger maybe a second too long, but Peter figures his limbs just aren't cooperating so well after the alcohol. "We can't all have nice, still in place yarmulkes like you. Fantastic Four colors, too! Don't think I hadn't noticed." 

Peter snorts softly. "It was my grandfather's from way before the Fantastic Four even existed. But you tell yourself whatever you need to keep that flimsy ego of yours supplied." 

"Dick." 

It doesn't hold any sting, though. It sounds fond, even. God, if Peter from a month ago saw him, he wouldn't even recognize himself. Johnny shifts himself a little closer to him, but Peter doesn't think much of it. They're taking turns sipping the champagne and vodka now. It's just easier to lay down closer where both bottles are within reach. Above them, Peter lets out a content sigh as he watches a colorful nebula drift into focus. This is far better than watching superheroes get embarrassingly drunk. 

Next to him, Johnny lets out a little sigh. When Peter turns to look at him, he finds him laying on his side, looking more at Peter than at the stars above them. Peter arches an inquisitive eyebrow. 

"You know Spider-Man pretty well, right? Because of your photos?" Johnny asks. Peter reaches for the last swig of champagne, hoping that his shrug wasn't any less casual than usual. Drunk and being asked about his secret identity don't go well together. Johnny doesn't notice anything amiss, though, and just continues. "Wanna hear a secret? A really embarrassing one? Before, back when I was starting out and Spidey was new on the scene, I used to have the biggest crush on him. Like... I had one of those knockoff Spider-Man posters they sell in Times Square hanging up on my bedroom wall." 

It's a miracle that Peter hadn't been mid swallow when Johnny says that. If he had he would have absolutely started choking and sputtering all over the place. Peter has no doubt about that. What else could he do to a revelation like that? For one horrifying second, he thinks that Johnny's figured him out. He knows his secret, knows that he's Spider-Man, and this is his cruel way of letting Peter know. By mocking him with some story that couldn't possibly be true. 

But no. When Peter looks over at him, Johnny doesn't look like he's making some big joke. Actually, he looks sort of scared. Like he expects Peter to be the cruel one, to make fun of ihm for his crush or worse. So even though Peter feels horribly weird and he wants to hide away forever or at least change the subject away from Spider-Man, he can't be mean to Johnny in that way. He can tease him and make fun of him in plenty of other ways, but not in this. 

Not that he can make himself look any less surprised. "Oh. That's... Wow. I thought you two had like... tension or something? Like aren't you always fighting when you see each other?" 

"Sue says I'm like a boy pulling on his crush's pigtails." Johnny snorts softly. "I think he does actually sort of hate me, but I just couldn't figure out how to express my feelings in any remotely healthy way." 

"Oh. For what it's worth, I don't think Spider-Man hates you. He mentions you to me sometimes. He says you're... an okay guy." Peter winces immediately after he says it. First of all, talking about himself in third person and trying not to get caught is the world's most awkward situation. Second, 'an okay guy'? Is that seriously the best he could come up with? Ugh. He keeps going, before Johnny can call him out on either of those things. "I didn't even know you liked guys that way." 

"Yeah... Not a lot of people do. I'm gay," Johnny admits. "The rest of the team knows, but... that's about it. And you now." 

Peter doesn't know what to say to that. He'd always assumed Johnny was a shameless womanizer, the way all the tabloids assumed. It's one of the reasons he's always been so jealous of Johnny. It seemed so easy for him to get girls, being a superhero and handsome and cis. Meanwhile, Peter was just the busy nerd whose only cool hobbies had to remain secret and who had to awkwardly come out to any girl he tried to date. Now he just feels like a dick, knowing that Johnny had been equally closeted in his own way the whole time. 

He reaches over and takes one of Johnny's hands in his, in a way he hopes will come off more as friendly and supportive than romantic. Friends do that, after all. Right? Hold hands to comfort each other? Of course, he and Johnny haven't ever really called each other friends - more like he's never called Johnny his friend, but that's a detail Peter wants to overlook right now - but they're clearly friendly. So Peter tries not to overthink it while he keeps his hand firmly in Johnny's and gives it an encouraging squeeze. 

"Oh. I... Thanks for telling me, Johnny. I really appreciate you trusting me with that. Though... If you don't mind my asking... why?" Peter knows he 's coming off as terribly rude and Aunt May would be disappointed in him, but the alcohol is making words come off his tongue before he can really think them through. "You and I aren't exactly... close." 

"I dunno. Maybe it helps that we're not close. You've got one of those faces that people can just trust, y'know? Maybe that helps, too. Maybe I'm just drunk." Johnny shrugs. "I'm not ashamed of it or anything. It's just... harder to come out while in the public eye like I am. There's more people to tell, it would be all over the news, the team would probably get flack for it, it's just... way more vulnerable than just telling people I care about. Or people with really trusting faces." 

"That makes sense. I'm glad I've got a trusting face, Johnny. Though now I feel like we're kind of uneven. You go around being vulnerable with me and I'm just a jerk to you." Peter frowns and looks back up at the ceiling, like the stars might help clarify things through his alcohol addled brain. Then he figures it can't hurt to let Johnny know he's queer, too. And trans. It's not like he's stealth or actively trying to keep it a secret. He's just not close with many people at school. "Oh, here, maybe we can make it even. I've got a few secrets, too. I can't tell you all of them, but I-" 

Peter's cut off by Johnny leaning in even closer and pressing a finger against his lips to shush him. "No, no. This doesn't have to be an exchange. I wasn't, like, telling you 'cause I wanted you to tell me something in exchange or something. I was just telling. If you still wanna tell me in the morning when you're sober, go for it. But for now... It just means a lot that you'd sit and listen." 

Peter pulls back so his lips are no longer touching any part of Johnny. "You're... a really weird guy, Johnny. You know that?" 

"Eh. I've been told before." 

"Yeah... You know how we're friendly rivals, Johnny?" 

"Kinda hard to forget." 

"Well... Yeah, I guess. So. Don't get sappy or me 'cause we've been drinking or whatever, but... Maybe you and I can just be... friends. Like regular friends, y'know?" 

Johnny flashes him one of those huge, shining grins he's so famous for in the tabloids. He nods and squeezes Peter's hand. They're still holding hands. Peter had almost forgotten by now. It's easy to forget when he's so distracted. By Johnny, the alcohol, the stars still twinkling above them. It's a distracting situation for a lot of reasons, most which Peter doesn't want to think about right now. Not that he can gets his thoughts in order, anyway. Not when Johnny moves the bottles aside so he can scoot even closer and lean his head up against Peter's shoulder. 

"I'd like that a lot, Peter." 

Despite their original plans of hanging out here until they were tipsy enough to put up with the after party, they never make it to the party. They just stay down there, not talking, but enjoying each other's quiet company. Staring up at the stars together. Eventually, they fall asleep, Johnny's head on Peter's shoulder and Peter's head nestled on top of Johnny's. Not at all how Peter envisioned his night ending, but... Somehow, he can't imagine anything better. 


	11. these feelings they keep running the red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: dysphoria, food
> 
> chap title comes from 2/14 by The Band CAMINO

As much as he hates to admit it, Peter would have probably been very happy spending the whole night there, fast asleep basically cuddled up against Johnny. Between the beanbags, Johnny's surprisingly floofy hair, and the ambiance from the planetarium, it makes for a pretty great place to sleep. Unfortunately, at some point - half past three, Peter sees when he squints at his cell phone - Reed and Sue come in, turn on the lights, and crouch down to shake them awake. 

"All right, boys. Time to sleep in an actual bed," Sue announces. 

Peter grumbles about the bright light for about half a second, before very suddenly remembering where he is and shooting up to his feet. "Dr. Richards, I am absolutely  _ not  _ drunk while a guest in your home. I would never disrespect your lab space like that." 

Now that he's actually said it out loud, Peter realizes it definitely doesn't help his case. Just like the way he sways slightly when standing and the slight slur to his words doesn't help at all. But it's too late to take it back and, thankfully, Reed just laughs as he collects the bottles off the floor. He stretches one hand to the corner of the room to throw it in the recycling bin there and tucks the cheap vodka under his arm. "Some underage drinking and stargazing in the planetarium is much milder than what's still going on in the afterparty. So we'll call it even." 

"Normally, I'd let Johnny spend the night here and wake up with a crick in his neck so he questions all his decisions, but your Aunt called us and asked if you could sleepover so you wouldn't have to take the late night bus. We pride ourselves on not leaving house guests to sleep on lab floors, so... you got lucky this time, Johnny," Sue explains. She steers both of them out the room and onto the stairs while Reed shuts down all the programs and locks up the room properly. 

"I knew that having Peter over was a good idea," Johnny agrees. He stifles a yawn and holds open the door for the stairwell. "Peter and I are perfectly capable of making it to my room on our own, you know? We don't need the personal escort." 

Sue looks between the both of them suspiciously before nodding and grabbing Reed's arm to go towards the elevators and back to the party. "All right, but only because Peter seems fairly trustworthy. Have some water and don't stay up too late, okay?" 

"Will do, Susie," Johnny promises. 

He grabs Peter by his wrist and tugs him down the stairs to the living area. It's probably one of the weirdest nights Peter can imagine, but he's strangely okay with it. For once, he doesn't mind all the time he's spending around Johnny or how handsy Johnny has a habit of being sometimes. If he's being honest with himself, Peter hasn't minded for a while. It's just that now, he actually got over himself enough to admit it and let himself say out loud that they're friends. 

Who could have ever seen it coming? Him and Johnny Storms, friends. One day, he might have to send Mr. Hudley a thank you note for what will doubtlessly be a funny story one day. Assuming they're still friends in many years, when these sort of things become funny. 

Ugh, now the alcohol is clearly making him think all sorts of rambly things in his own mind. At least he's not saying them all out loud. He follows Johnny to the kitchen, where they both get water, then over to his bedroom. He doesn't think too much about it until suddenly, Johnny's unbuttoning his shirt and Peter has to take a long drink of water to hide how his ears are turning red. 

"Johnny? Um, not to be rude, but... do you guys have a guest room, maybe?" Peter asks. Then immediately winces because wow, everything he says while drunk is the absolute worst thing to say. It's a wonder anyone still drinks at all. 

Johnny stops just after unbuttoning the very bottom button, so now he's just standing there, hair askew from sleeping, the slightest hint of the alcohol daze darkening his far too blue eyes, and his chest bare and exposed for all the world to see. It causes a twinge deep in his stomach that Peter immediately writes off as jealousy. That's what he usually feels when faced with handsome cis boys and their effortlessly flat chests. Usually, they don't notice his staring or snap back with cruel things. Johnny just tugs his shirt close around his body to hide it some more and deflates. As in, very noticeably slumps his shoulder and looks down at the floor dejectedly.

"Uh, yeah, we have a guest room. Is it... Is it the gay thing?" he asks, looking up at Peter through flopping strands of blond hair and looking unfairly like a kicked puppy. 

Peter shakes his head quickly. "No. I realize how it sounds terrible, but it's not. It's... well, it's something else entirely, except that we just established a little while ago that we weren't going to talk about it until we were both sober." 

"Okay... Well, yeah. The room across from this one is a guest room. You can sleep in there. Do you need anything?" Johnny asks. He doesn't take his shirt the rest of the way off, but he does at least stop holding it closed over his chest. Instead, he goes over to his drawers to rifle around through them. "Something to sleep in, maybe?" 

"Um... Yeah, I guess a t-shirt would be nice. Thanks, Johnny." 

A few minutes later, Peter is bundled up under some blankets in the far too comfortable guess bedroom. He's wearing an old t-shirt of Johnny's with the logo for some sort of field day at his old high school. It definitely would fit baggy on Johnny, which means it practically hangs off of Peter's shorter and considerably not as well built frame. It even does a pretty decent job at hiding the part of his chest that started this whole mess to begin with, so great job on Johnny's part finding him the shirt. 

Not that Peter's thinking about any of that right now. Of course not, he's busy thinking about how Johnny's shirt smells like him. Peter had never thought much about what Johnny smells like, but it's the only thing running through his mind right now as he lays down in Johnny's apartment, wearing his clothes, after falling asleep on his shoulder, because he'd been drinking his alcohol. It's a lot.

For those wondering, Johnny Storm smells like extinguished candles, motor oil, and expensive hair product. It has no business being attractive, yet here Peter is, pulling Johnny's t-shirt up closer so he can get a better scent of it. This is 100% going to be one of those pathetic moments he looks back on when he wakes up sober, but he can't bring himself to care in that moment. He's too busy falling asleep to the scent of Johnny Storm. 

****

Peter wakes up to someone knocking on his door and for one blissful moment, he thinks it's Aunt May coming to tell him that brunch is on the table. Then, quite horribly, he remembers everything that happened the night before and he wants nothing more than to burrow under the blankets - still in Johnny's shirt! - and never come out again. He doesn't regret finally getting over himself and admitting that he and Johnny are friends, but all the tipsy snuggling and his awkward request for a guest room had definitely not been among his brightest moments. 

But the knocking is persistent, so Peter gets up and goes to open it. Johnny's standing on the other side, holding some folded up clothes against his chest. Peter is suddenly acutely aware that he's standing there in one of Johnny's t-shirts, no binder, and too short boxers. Johnny keeps his gaze politely fixed on Peter's face, though, even if he seems just as embarrassed as Peter. 

"Good morning. Sorry to wake you, but Reed's been bugging me to wake you for breakfast. Also, I figured you didn't want to have to put your suit back on, so I found some clothes of mine that'll probably fit you okay," he explains, 

"Oh. Thanks." Peter takes the clothes from him and slinks a little further back behind the door. "I'll be dressed and out in a minute." 

He closes the door then and gets dressed as quickly as possible, so he can be out of this t-shirt once and for all. Not that it's much help. The clothes Johnny's lent him - a pair of skinny jeans that fit Peter a little long but look fine cuffed and an old red henley that probably fits Johnny too small now - smell like him too. Johnny's smell isn't something Peter had ever noticed before and he would like to go back to ignoring it as quickly as possible. But for now, Peter lingers a second after pulling it over his head and wonders if it's really been so long since he dated Gwen that he's actually getting caught up in  _ Johnny Storm  _ of all people. 

Peter finally pushes those thoughts far, far away and hopefully to never resurface again, so he can go out to join Johnny for breakfast. Even with all the unbelievable things that have happened in Peter's life, this is somehow still one of the most absurd things. Peter would have never thought he'd one day be waking up for breakfast at the Fantastic Four's house, after spending the night because he got a little too tipsy with Johnny Storm. This is, of course, slightly more absurd for him than for the rest of the team, seeing as he's the only one who knows he's Spider-Man. 

Even without the Spidey thing, he has plenty to be sheepish about as he walks out to the kitchen and joins the team at the table. He  _ did  _ illegally drink their alcohol last night. Thankfully, none of them seem too pressed about it. They're just hanging around the table, eating the world's most plentiful breakfast while Ben seems to be nursing a hangover. Reed pulls out a chair for Peter next to Johnny and offers him coffee, tea, and three different kinds of juices. 

A minute later, Peter's sitting down with a bagel, scrambled eggs, a muffin, and a glass of apple juice and to be honest, he's not entirely sure how he wound up in this situation. In battle, the Fantastic Four are well organized chaos. It seems that domestic situations aren't all that different. Johnny smiles knowingly at him. 

"Mornings aren't usually this chaotic. But you know how it is after big parties. Ben's hungover. Sue's hungover. Reed won't admit it, but he's hungover, too," Johnny explains. 

"Says the snot-nosed li'l kid that stole half my cheap vodka last night," Ben grumbles. "Keep talkin' like that and I'll put the liquor cabinet under lock and key." 

"Hey, you all-" 

"Thought that you were old enough to go to space with us," all three finish for him. 

Sue rolls her eyes fondly. "We know, Johnny." 

"Just saying," he grumbles, shrugging. 

Sue seems pretty content to ignore him as she turns to Peter. "I hope you enjoyed your night here. And I hope your aunt won't be too upset at us for letting you and Johnny sneak away with alcohol." 

"She always makes exceptions for passover, it's okay. And thank you for letting me stay, even if I did sneak away with Johnny. You're all wonderful hosts," Peter says, because his aunt and uncle didn't raise him in a barn. 

"Ugh." Johnny groans. "Please don't be so polite, Peter, you're going to give them all unreasonable expectations for me." 

Breakfast is surprisingly great. Peter hadn't been so sure how he'd felt about his impromptu sleepover with Johnny, but now he's glad that things had turned out this way. Johnny and his team are so much of a family, they make even Peter feel like he's part of the homeyness. Enough that he doesn't even fully regret having missed out on Sunday brunch with Aunt May. 

Once they're done eating, Peter packs up his things and follows Johnny to the basement garage so he can get a ride home. Peter's stubborn, but not so stubborn that he'll turn down a chance to not take the trains. Once they're both buckled in with some background music playing, Peter shifts in the passenger seat slightly to look at Johnny. 

"I'm sorry about last night," he says. "In your room, I mean." 

"There's nothing to apologize for, Peter. Honestly, I overreacted a little. I was tipsy. You're a good guy, Peter. I wouldn't have told you if I thought otherwise. I know you wouldn't have left the room because of that. You don't need to explain yourself," he promises. 

"Thanks." Peter knows that the polite thing to do is probably to tell Johnny away, to offer his truth up unprovoked just like Johnny did, but he can't. He can't bring himself to do that now, not even with how much better things are between the two of them. So he just takes the easy way out. "Thanks for the invite. And for letting me see your planetarium. I had a lot of fun." 

"Of course. Anytime, Peter. Well, the seder probably won't be anytime. That's kind of a yearly thing. But the planetarium and hanging out? Anytime." Johnny grins at him. "Thanks for bumping me up to an actual friend." 

Peter laughs and at least has the decency to be somewhat embarrassed. They listen to music for the car ride to Queens, feeling far more at ease than Peter would have ever imagined being around Johnny. When they pull up at his aunt's place, he's surprised to actually feel somewhat disappointed that the car ride is over and they're parting ways again. 

"Maybe we should meet up this week? To make up for not working this weekend?" Peter suggests as he gets out of the car. At the beginning of all this, Peter would have given anything in the world to spend  _ less  _ time with Johnny. 

"That sounds great, Peter. I'm feeling the newfound friendliness already," Johnny teases. 

Peter rolls his eyes and shuts the door. "Goodbye, Johnny." 

He stands at his front door for longer than necessary, watching Johnny drive away. It's only when Johnny's car rounds the corner and fades out of eyesight that he goes inside. As soon as the door is shut, Peter leans up against the hallway and takes a second to just breathe in. What a weird twelve or so hours. He wouldn't have ever imagined things ending up like this when he left home last night. 

Aunt May peers into the hallway and smiles at him. "Hello, dear. Welcome home! How was your night? I see you're wearing Johnny's clothes." 

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah, he lent me something so I wouldn't have to come home in my suit. Aunt May, I just had a pretty weird night. I think I... like Johnny?" he says, frowning. When he looks back up at her, she's smirking and Peter realizes how badly he could have been misinterpreted there. He's quick to correct, "I like him as a person, I mean. As a friend! Not like  _ that _ ." 

And wow, Aunt May actually looks kind of disappointed, which makes Peter wonder what she's been thinking about them this whole time. "Oh. Well, that's still an improvement! Come on, I saved you some iced coffee. We can sit and talk all about your night with Johnny Storm." 

And Peter follows her, even though a big part of him still has no clue what to think about the night before. He's probably just overthinking it. A chat with his aunt to hear her ridiculous interpretation of the night is just what he needs. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> peter is such a bisexual himbo icon


	12. some invisible string tying you to me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: food
> 
> song title from "invisible string" by Taylor Swift

Peter hadn't gone out patrolling on Sunday night, something he's still feeling horrifically guilty about. It had been a quiet night, no big crimes or supervillains, but he still feels awful any time he skips his self appointed responsibilities. He'd just been too busy trying to make sense of all his thoughts and decipher what the world's going to look like now that he's friends with Johnny Storm. It's far more dramatic than it has to be, but that's just what Peter's always been like. 

School is difficult, too, because Gwen must be able to see it all over his face. She smirks and winks at him anytime they make eye contact, so he pretty much avoids her all day. When he gets home, Peter does the only thing he can think of to help him recover from the guilt of no patrolling and avoiding his best friend all day long: he tells Aunt May he's not feeling well, goes to bed early, and is out patrolling by eight thirty. It's risky, because he'll definitely get caught if Aunt May tries to check in on him before she falls asleep, but he's gotten away with it a few times before, so he's willing to test the Parker Luck a bit. 

It seems like every petty criminal in the neighborhood knows that he tends to start later in the evening, because Peter has to break up more petty robberies and stupid fights than usual. It's easier than his usual job, because the kind of people who try to avoid Spider-Man and do these sort of things are also usually the type of people who don't really want to start trouble, but are trying to deal with difficult situations. Half the time, they'll stop as soon as they see Spidey and start blabbering out apologies. It's why Peter has a whole list of social workers and community orgs that he refers to instead of ruining their records. And sure, sometimes he'll run into them back on the streets a few weeks later, but at the end of the day, he's sure this work is more important than taking down Doc Ock and Rhino half a dozen times. 

It also tends to leave him with far less bruises, so... win win. Around eleven o'clock, Peter decides he's earned a break by now. Especially because a bodega owner has just given him some dubious looking pizza and a canned soda as a thank you for stopping a burglary. He might regret it later, but heck yes Peter's going to eat the free food. It's one of the best parts of the Spider-Man gig. He's just finishing off the last bit of crust when he spots a familiar blond head walking out of a shop. And yes, the whole purpose of this night was to clear his mind from Johnny Storm induced confusion, but he can't help himself. 

He chugs the last bit of soda and swings down to land on the pavement right in front of Johnny. "Should I be worried that you're hanging around here? Is there some world eating alien about to land?" 

"Jeez, Spidey, don't just jump in front of people like that. I could have burnt you!" Johnny complains. "And no, if you must know, I got a late night ice cream craving and there's a great shop here that's open late." 

"You really like ice cream, huh?" Peter asks, and then immediately wants to kick himself when he remembers that he's only actually seen Johnny eat ice cream as Peter Parker. He keeps talking quickly and hopes Johnny won't notice. "So? What's the verdict? Worth the trip?" 

"Definitely. Why don't you decide for yourself? Ice cream's on me," Johnny offers. 

It's how a few minutes later, Peter finds himself sitting at the edge of a rooftop, making his way through a cone of chocolate chip ice cream. He's not the kind of fool who turns down an offer for free ice cream, especially on a slow night. Even if the ice cream is coming from one of the people he's sort of kind of trying to avoid at the moment. He's trying to ignore Johnny because of things that happened as Peter Parker. Totally different, is what he's trying to convince himself of right now. 

(There's, of course, the things that he'd been told about Johnny and Spider-Man as Peter Parker, but he's trying to just... not think about that right now.)

"So what do you say?" Johnny asks. "Is the ice cream good enough to hop on the subway for?" 

"You know... It's good, I'll give you that. I'm sure it'll really hit the spot in the middle of summer after a long night of patrolling," Peter admits. 

"Definitely. And you know, if you ever get an ice cream craving but it's too cold out..." Johnny trails off and heats his body up enough that Peter starts sweating under the mask. He stops before the ice cream melts and laughs. "It's a very fine line to do that and still be able to eat the ice cream, though. It took me like... a year after getting my powers to figure out." 

"Huh. Is that why you like ice cream so much?" he asks. 

"Sort of, yeah. Plus, I'm making up for lost time. Enough about me, though," Johnny insists. "You haven't been out in a few nights. Everything okay in the web I assume you live in?" 

Everything perfect, I was just busy at your place, Peter thinks, though he can't say that, of course. The best lie has a foundation of truth in it, though, so he answers, "Everything a-okay in the Spider Lair. I was just visiting some family for Passover." 

"Oh, you're Jewish? Nice. You should have told me earlier, I would have invited you to Ben's seder! Next year," Johnny promises. 

"Next year," Peter agrees and hopes that Johnny will forget all about it by the time the holiday rolls around. That or that he doesn't invite Peter and Spider-Man both.

"Definitely. You know the kid that photographs you? Peter Parker? " Johnny asks, because he apparently has a sensor for saying and thinking the absolute worst things possible. "He came this year!" 

"Oh. Cool. He's a nice kid, that Parker boy. Always gets my best angles. Very smart. Very handsome." Peter wants to hit himself because he's definitely overdoing it, but that would be obvious, so he just takes a big lick of his ice cream to shut himself up. 

"I guess so, yeah. He and I are doing a project together, you know? On superheroes. Actually, maybe we could interview you for it!" Johnny suggests. 

"Uh... Yeah. Maybe. I don't know. I'm pretty busy a lot." 

Peter does the only thing he can think of. He finishes off the rest of the ice cream in one huge bite, which leaves him with terrible brain freeze - come to think of it, brain freeze and his spidey sense are pretty similar - then signals that he has to leave and swings away as quickly as possible. Overall, it's definitely in his top five least smooth exits ever, but somehow, not actually the most embarrassing thing he's ever done. 

***

That night, Peter lays awake in bed for far too long. Going out early had meant he'd come home early and if he wanted to, he could have definitely gotten a sort of normal amount of sleep that night. But instead, because the only thing Peter likes more than fighting crime is hating himself, he just lays down, stares up at the ceiling, and thinks too much about Johnny Storm. 

This has probably been the worst kind of internal wrestling his secret identity has led to since this all began, which is probably a sign that he's doing junior year wrong. After all, lying to his aunt, girlfriend, and best friends never led him here, but now all of a sudden a guy he only just decided to like has him losing sleep? It's probably because Johnny's a superhero, too. Yeah. It's definitely that. He's never had to deal with this much interaction on both sides of his life. 

Of course, while that explains one part of all this, it doesn't actually do much about explaining why all his brain cells have suddenly decided to stop functioning. That is, after all, the only possible reason why Peter would ever reach for his phone and send Johnny a text at 2:17 in the morning. For what it's worth, Johnny replies within thirty seconds. 

{sms from: Peter P} Spider-Man told me he saw you in Queens today

{sms from: Johnny} spidey's a snitch!!!!!!!!!!! D: 

{sms from: Johnny} i was getting late night ice cream and sharing is caring so we had some

(sms from: Peter P} yeah he mentioned something about that

{sms from: Johnny} he said you were handsome and then I told him we're doing a project together and he acted all weird and left....   
{sms from: Johnny} and you were a little weird the other night after I told you I used to have a crush on spidey....   
{sms from Johnny} give it to me straight peter are you dating spider-man? 

At this point, Peter gets up, pads out to the kitchen as quiet as he can so Aunt May doesn't wake up, and indulges in a late night pack of Skittles. Because damn, when did this become his life instead of defeating supervillains and not getting enough sleep? To be fair, he has no one to blame but himself. He's the one stupid enough to send out a message like that in the first place. 

He should really start setting up some sort of filtering system with his messages to stop himself from doing exactly this. With his Skittles in hand, he goes back to his room and settles back down under his blanket with his phone. He debates just not replying and hoping Johnny will forget this late night interaction, but that just makes him look way more guilty, doesn't it? At this point, Peter's not sure whether this question is any better than Johnny figuring out his secret identity. 

Finally, he shoves a fistful of Skittles in his mouth for courage and texts back. 

{sms from: Peter P} eww no!! Spider-Man is a good friend, that's all.    
{sms from: Peter P} he's more like my brother sometimes

{sms from: Johnny} oooh so you both acting weird was about weird brotherly over protectiveness. that actually makes a lot more sense.    
{sms from: Johnny} well neither of you has anything to worry about. I'm perfectly polite and you can tell Spidey I said that

{sms from: Peter P} yup, just being overprotective. you photograph a guy enough times and you end up wanting the best for him   
{sms from: Peter P} great, I'll let him now. I should probably go to bed. good night johnny

And then he shuts his phone off and throws it to the other side of the room. It won't have any charge in the morning and will probably have a new scratch, but it's the only way he'll actually stop incriminating himself with Johnny. So... small price to pay. 

Peter rolls onto his side, tugs his blanket over his head, and is absolutely determined not to think about Johnny Storm anymore. At least not for a few hours while he sleeps. At this point, Peter's just happy for any small victory he can get. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> exciting news! I finished writing this! so the total chapter count has been updated and there should be no delays in getting chapters up every few days :) thank you so much for all the love, comments, and kudos you've provided so far! it's the fuel that got me through writing all of this so quickly


	13. want you more than a melody

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: food 
> 
> title for this chapter comes from Sunflower, Vol. 6 by Harry Styles

The project is due in two weeks and everything is going... well, actually? Peter had warmed up to Johnny, so he no longer expected the project to be some sort of wreck, but he still expected it to be maybe slightly above average. Now that they're nearing the end of it, Peter's actually pretty proud of the work they've done. History's never even been one of his strongest subjects, so this very well might be the best work he hands in all year. 

They've finished up all their interviews and gathering of sources, so these last weeks, they're just focusing on getting the paper perfected and making sure they have the absolute best presentation in the history of the projects. To be more accurate, Peter is making sure the paper is perfect and Johnny is making sure the presentation is as great as it can possibly be. They actually make a pretty good team because of it. 

Peter's even getting used to spending all his Sundays at the Baxter Building with Johnny and his teammates. He's seen them a few more times as Spidey and he's even starting to feel less weird about the clashing of identities there. It seems like they are truly, finally making progress and junior year is rounding off to be a pretty great one. So, obviously, because the Parker Luck never fails, his plans get a massive wrench thrown at them. 

He wakes up Sunday morning to an uncharacteristically early text message from Johnny. (Early as in morning when normal people are up, because if they counted early as the late night hours when patrolling happens, Johnny is almost always awake.) Peter half expects to find out there's been some terrible Fantastic Four related accident until he opens it up and realizes it's actually much worse. 

{sms from: Johnny} hey, peter!!! I know this is last minute and I'm so sorry but we got roped into a surprise government inspection here at the tower and it'll probably take all day. can we meet at your place today?

And see, it's not that Peter is ashamed of where he lives or how much money he has. His aunt and uncle worked hard for everything they have and his aunt keeps working hard now to keep it all and put Peter through high school. He's as proud as can be of her and their little house. But Johnny Storm does not live in a rundown,  _ cozy  _ house out in Queens. His home couldn't be any more extravagant. 

It's a literal multi floor penthouse in the middle of Manhattan, with superhero facilities inside it. An actual planetarium. Floor to ceiling windows all over the place. Bedrooms as big as the entire second floor of Peter's house. Its residents were the Fantastic Four and their house guests half the time were literal Avengers. This wasn't even a problem with Peter and his house. No one at all would be able to compete, except for maybe another superhero. (One of the public ones, of course, who were making unimaginable wealth off their powers.) 

So yes, okay, maybe he is a little embarrassed, but only because of who it is that's coming over. Not because he'd be embarrassed normally. It's two totally different things. But it's not as though he can say no. They have to work on the project and while they could technically find a library or cafe to crash at for a few hours, Peter knows from other times he's gone out with Johnny that he always gets at least half a dozen fans approaching him for pictures and autographs. Not exactly conducive to their project. 

So, he agrees to host Johnny at his place and sends him a pin location, even though Johnny definitely already knows where he lives. He's not exactly thinking straight right now. Can anyone really blame him? He gets up, in far more of a rush than he was a few minutes ago, and hurries to get dressed and make his room look semi presentable. Will Johnny be in his room? He has no idea. Peter hasn't felt this nervous since his first night of patrolling. When there's no longer a pile of dirty clothes on his bedroom floor, he rushes downstairs to interrupt his aunt halfway through brunch preparations. 

"Aunt May! Johnny's coming over today!" Peter says, embarrassed at how panicked and out of breath he sounds. 

"Johnny from school?" Aunt May asks, though Peter knows she's picturing the Fantastic Four, not lockers and classrooms. "Goodness. When is he arriving?" 

"I don't know. Two thirty or so? That's when we usually meet. He texted this morning to say we couldn't use the Baxter Building and to ask if we could come here instead and I panicked and told him yes," Peter explains. 

"Good. Not that you panicked, but that you said yes. Of course Johnny can come over! I just need to tidy some things. Here, take over pancake duty while I clean the living room," Aunt May says. 

She leaves the spatula in Peter's hand and rushes off before Peter can complain, so he gets to work because he doesn't want to end up eating burnt pancakes. It gets his mind off Johnny Storm for a while, at least, which was probably Aunt May's ulterior motive anyway. By the time they're sitting down and actually eating brunch, Peter's feeling a lot better about the whole thing. Of course, when the front doorbell actually rings to announce Johnny's announcement, every bit of progress they'd made disappears and Peter just wants the world to open up and swallow him whole. 

But Aunt May is never going to let him disappear from the world while there's still a guest to attend, so Peter goes to the front door to open up while Aunt May goes to fluff up some pillows. Johnny, charming bastard that he is, is standing there with flowers and a tray of cookies from a bakery near the Baxter Building. 

"Hey, Peter! I realize this was last minute and probably a hassle, so I brought a peace offering," he explains. Once Peter's let him inside, Johnny goes to his aunt and presents the flowers to her. "Hi, Mrs. Parker! I know this wasn't planned, but I really appreciate you letting me come by. I stopped for some snacks, then I saw these flowers on the way and figured they would brighten up any house." 

"Oh! Thank you, Johnny, these are absolutely lovely. And there's nothing to thank us for. Any friend of Peter's is always welcome here." Aunt May exclaims. She takes a whiff of the flowers and then hurries off to put them in water.

And seriously, Peter's seen Johnny be charming before, but this is ridiculous. No wonder the whole country loves him. When he gets a boyfriend someday, the guy's parents are going to absolutely love Johnny. And... yeah, that's definitely a weird thing to think about a friend, but Peter's sure it's not  _ that  _ weird. He hopes not at least. He thinks a lot of weird things about Johnny, doesn't he?  _ That's  _ a weird thing to think about Johnny. 

Ugh. Peter cuts himself off before it can get any worse and clears up a spot on the coffee table for Johnny to put the cookies down. "I figured we could work down here. It's a little more comfortable than my room." 

"Sounds good to me! Honestly, if we just proofread a bit and sharpen up the presentation, we should be good to go. I'm feeling pretty good about it," Johnny says. 

"Me too. It's... I'm not gonna lie, it's a lot better than I expected it to be." 

They'd strayed away from a lot of the official narrative around superheroes to explore vigilantes and people who were basically hired guns for the government, but ran around in costumes and labeled superheroes. It was the sort of things Peter would probably not have done if he was working alone, seeing as Mr. Hudley might not like them straying so much, but with his Johnny Storm immunity, he was willing to get a bit adventurous. 

Johnny had been shockingly open to, despite the fact there was a section criticizing teams like his who were technically independent, but clammered for government approval so much, they might as well have been a government hound. Peter tries not to be petty, but it does feel pretty good to hear Johnny critiquing themselves like that after how much Peter has to put up with people undermining Spider-Man for the silliest of reasons while other teams can basically get away with murder. (Literally and figuratively!) 

That's just another thing in the surprisingly long list of reasons Peter's developed as to why Johnny is actually a much better guy than Peter had thought when they first met. Pretty high on the list is Johnny's insistence to always have snacks during their meetings, which Peter is reminded of when he munches on cookies while Johnny gives a mock presentation. Peter's going to have help present, but the bulk of it is going to Johnny, who has much better charisma without a mask than Peter does. When he wraps up, Peter gives him a round of polite applause. 

"We're definitely getting an A," Peter announces. 

"Definitely. Especially with that awesome paper you're writing for us!" Johnny grins and sits down on the couch next to Peter. 

"You had just as much to do with the paper, too," Peter insists, shrugging. Here he is, actually trying to share credit with Johnny Storm. Hell's definitely frozen over. "You got us all that insider information." 

"You made us sound smart, though. Let's just say we both earned the A and call it a day." Johnny pats his knee. 

And Peter's brain promptly short circuits. Johnny runs warm, Peter's known that for a while, but there's something unspeakably satisfying about feeling Johnny's too warm hands on his knees. Warm enough that Peter feels it through his jeans, even. And sure, he and Johnny have been closer than this, like when they'd sort of kinda cuddled up in the planetarium, but... well, he and Johnny had gotten a lot friendlier since then and Peter's had to ignore an awful lot of thoughts about Johnny, lest they end up going down a unwanted path. 

Like now, when Peter's mind strays of its own accord to Johnny's warm hands and how nice it would be to have them near him more often. 

He slams on the mental breaks and hopes that his face hadn't shown too much. He doesn't have a crush. It's not that. It's just... very natural consequence of how little affection he gets after spending so much time patrolling. That's all. Still not something he would want to explain to Johnny if he'd noticed anything strange in Peter's face. 

Thankfully, Johnny seems just as distracted by something on his cellphone screen. When he stands up again, he lets out a disappointed sigh. "Sorry, Peter. I wanted to hang out after we finished, but Sue's calling me back. I need to be there for part of the inspection or whatever. This was great, though. Thanks for having me over." 

"Of course, Johnny. Good luck with all your Fantastic Four stuff," Peter says.

Johnny bids his aunt farewell as well, of course, because he's a perfect gentleman like that. Aunt May practically fawns over him and walks him out to the car. Peter wouldn't have been surprised if she'd gotten on her knees and begged him to stay and be her new nephew. She doesn't, though, and as soon as Johnny's driven off, Peter goes to sit back down on the couch, dazed and wondering if he can just... ignore that weird moment with Johnny's hand on him, the same way he's ignored so much between the two of them until now. 

That'll work, right? Yeah, it'll work. Peter will just go out tonight, go a little bit harder than usual while patrolling, and it'll all go back to normal by the time he falls asleep. 

Or at least, that's what he do if it weren't for the way that Aunt May smirks at him when she comes back into the living room to clean up a bit from all the snacks the boys had been eating. Peter recognizes that look, it's the same one she'd given him sophomore year when he started dating Gwen, but Peter pretends to not understand. 

He shoves a cookie in his mouth and shrugs defensively at her. "Wha'?" 

"That Johnny Storm sure is a nice boy, isn't he?" she asks knowingly. 

"He's a good guy. And a very good  _ friend _ , Aunt May," he emphasizes, "so don't get any ideas." 

"Oh, I have no doubt he's a friend! You never seem to make any first moves. You Parker men are all like that. Have I told you that when your Uncle Ben and I met, I had to ask him out first? Poor boy was too shy even though we both obviously wanted to!" she exclaims. Peter's heard this before, because it's the exact story she told him so he'd ask Gwen out. Being semi-prepared doesn't make him any less embarrassed about the whole thing, though. Aunt May spots his blush and only looks more pleased with herself. "See that? You wouldn't be so embarrassed if you didn't know deep down inside you have feelings for that boy. You have a crush on him. Clearly." 

"Cleary?" Peter repeats weakly, not bothering to argue against it. 

"If it makes you feel better, I think Johnny is just as clueless are you are. Anyone with eyes can see he has quite a crush on you. I'm sure he'll agree to go to dinner with you or whatever it is kids do these days," she reassures him. 

Except that is... the opposite of reassuring. Peter stares at her like she's grown a second head. "Aunt May... Johnny is the coolest guy in school. He's even a step above all the varsity athletes. He's like a high school god. He's literally a rich, handsome superhero. He's nice to me and we've been hanging out because of this project, but I promise that Johnny Storm doesn't go out with guys like me." 

"Oh, Peter." Aunt May sighs. She ruffles his hair fondly. "There you go, underestimating yourself. That's a Parker trait as well. If you saw the way that boy looks at you, you wouldn't be worried at all. Take a risk! If it goes terrible, we'll fix your broken heart with ice cream and rugelach." 

She leaves him on the couch, even more confused than before. As useless as it was, Peter misses when he was just ignoring everything and asking Johnny Storm out wasn't even an option. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Johnny Storm is a mensch and your parental figures are guaranteed to love him


	14. chasing a high but it was always you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: alcohol, brief drug mention
> 
> chap title comes from Always You by Louis Tomlinson

"And that's why Peter and I think it's about time we stop blindly worshipping the system that glorifies heroes and gets to pick and choose who's a hero and who's a lawless vigilante. From their rise to popularity in the second world war to now, heroes have been a tool of propaganda and we would do well not to forget it." 

There's a long moment of silence after Johnny finishes talking, like no one's quite sure if they've misheard him or if he's about to add in some Fantastic Four related disclaimer at the end. But Johnny and Peter just stay standing at the front of the classroom, until there's some scattered applause and Mr. Hudley asks them to sit down again. Most people's presentations were focused on their favorite heroes, talking about how cool they were and all the lives they'd saved, while Peter and Johnny had mostly criticized the system that funneled certain people to fame and superheroics while others were left behind, which... Mr. Hudley honestly looks more tired than anything. 

But hey, it went well and with the Johnny Storm immunity, Peter doubts they'll get a bad grade. Johnny high fives him as they sit down. Two months ago, Peter wouldn't have believed anyone who told him that one day he'd be sitting down next to Johnny without a problem, let alone being overly friendly like this. They sit politely while waiting for the others to present, but shoot up out of their seats once the bell rings. It's the last week of school. Even a nerd like Peter is eager to get out of here.

"Are you going to the end of the year party at Flash's house on Friday?" Johnny asks, walking next to Peter to their next class. Johnny's class is in the opposite direction of Peter's, but he's never cared much about being late. He definitely doesn't care on the last week of class. 

Peter shrugs. "Flash and I aren't exactly friendly. I think Gwen's going, though." 

"Okay, maybe you and Flash aren't friendly, but you're friendly with me, right? You should just come. It's an open invitation, he won't kick you out. And if he tries, I'll tell him I invited you. He won't mess with me," Johnny offers. 

"I have no doubt that he won't." Peter rolls his eyes. They've come up to Peter's classroom and he stops just outside the door to finish up with Johnny before going in. "I just don't know if I want to go. But I'll think about it. Okay?" 

"All right. But just know I'm taking this as a yes and already planning the awesome after party fast food we're going to eat!" Johnny says, grinning madly at him before turning and jogging off to whatever class he's late for. 

As much as he hates to admit it, Peter knows he's pretty much agreed to it already, as well. 

***

The worst part about Aunt May teasing him about his nonexistent crush on Johnny Storm is that it made Peter realize that maybe it's not so nonexistent at all. He doesn't really know what to make of it, so he just approaches it the usual Parker way. He avoids Johnny as Spider-Man and pushes any feelings deep, deep inside himself when he's around him as Peter. It's not exactly a long term solution, but it gets him past the last two weeks of school. 

Now here he is, Friday night after shul, trying to figure out what he should wear to a party being hosted by one of the most annoying kids at school that's also a party he's only going to because his arch enemy turned crush is going to be there. Funny enough, it's not a fashion that Peter is particularly well versed in. He's already an hour and a half late to the party, which he figured would be a respectable time to arrive without looking like he cares too much about any party Flash Thompson is hosting. At least, that would have been a good time to arrive, but he's still here, trying to pick out an outfit. 

Aunt May is still with some friends from shul, so he can't ask her, and Gwen is a great friend, but he's too embarrassed to ask his ex-girlfriend for help in dressing up for his maybe hopefully future boyfriend. The logical thing would be to do his best or try to text some other, more casual friend. Maybe Harry, who he doesn't talk too much during the school year but is still extremely close with when he's home from boarding school in summers. Or Bobby Drake, who he once accidentally gave his real phone number to as Spider-Man but has thankfully assumed it was a burner phone and never looked up who the number belongs to. 

Instead, like the self-hating idiot he's always been, he goes straight to the worst option and sends off a fashion SOS text to Johnny. All he gets in return is a bunch of exclamation points, which he's not really sure what to make of, until a few minutes later, when Johnny's flaming body comes to a hovering stop outside Peter's window. He should have seen this coming, but he still startles. Trust Johnny to be ridiculously extra like this. He goes to open his window and Johnny lets himself in. 

"All right! Let's see these options!" he says, clapping his hands together triumphantly. 

"You could have just asked me to send you pictures, you know?" Peter points out. 

Johnny shrugs. "That's not nearly as authentic. I would have driven over, but flying was faster, so here I am." 

Peter shakes his head fondly. A part of him probably knew that Johnny was going to do something like this. Johnny's dramatic and ridiculous that's part of why Peter likes him so much. He finds it pretty impressive how Johnny is so confident both in and out of uniform. He wishes he could be the same when he's not all dressed up as Spider-Man, but he doubts it'll happen any time soon.

He gestures to the different shirts he's laid out on the bed, all possibilities he's put on at least three times without getting any closer to making a decision. At the very least, he's already pretty set on the black skinny jeans he's already put on. It's classic and overdone, but at least he knows it'll go with anything, won't show any stains if a drunk student spills on him, and he'll look decent. Johnny seems to agree, because he doesn't say anything about the pants. He just nods approvingly and picks up shirts to hold up against Peter's torso. 

"And here I thought you were going to throw on some graphic tee and call it a day. You trying to impress someone tonight, Peter?" Johnny teases. 

"Maybe," Peter scoffs, like it's a joke, but on the inside, he lights up with embarrassment and just hopes that Johnny can't tell. "That's for me to know, isn't it?" 

"Oh, I see how it is. Is this like a new year's resolution for 12th grade? You're going to be all wild and out there and make everyone jealous with someone on your arm? I support it, Peter." Johnny laughs. "Whoever it is, they're a lucky person." 

"Well... He hasn't said yes, yet," Peter says, even though he'd never really planned on making a move other than longful staring tonight. But he's never thought before he talks. "Um. Anyways. What shirt do you like?" 

Johnny takes a moment and then holds up a patterned button down shirt. It has little cameras against a blue backdrop and Aunt May had bought it for him after he first got his job at the Bugle. "This one. It goes well with your eyes and it screams 'look at me, I'm cute and artsy'. In a good way. You'll knock his socks off." 

"Thanks, Johnny." Peter tries not to think about it too much as he pulls it on over his undershirt and buttons it up quickly. He pulls his shoes on and then eyes Johnny dubiously. "No offence, but I'm not letting you fly me to this party. Split an Uber?" 

Twenty minutes later, they're pulling up in front of Flash's house. Peter's more than fashionably late by now, but everyone inside is too buzzed to even care. It's the perfect sort of entrance for someone like Peter, who would normally be a target at these sorts of things. They just come in unannounced and anyone who does look their way is too distracted by Johnny. 

Johnny pats Peter's back and tugs him over towards the kitchen. "I'm going to get us both drinks. If you want to go talk to the mystery guy, I'll find you after?" 

"Uh... Yeah. That sounds good." Peter doesn't wait for a response before darting off. It's a mess of students in every room here, but by the grace of God, Peter manages to find Gwen talking to some friends. He’s feeling desperate enough that he pulls her away to a corner and frantically whispers, "So. I might have an emergency and I don't know who else to talk to." 

"Oh boy. A Peter Parker emergency. These are always the best kind. Spill it," she says, motioning for him to talk. 

"So. I told Johnny that I was telling someone I have a crush on them today. The problem is, I really do have a crush on someone," he explains. 

Gwen smirks and finishes the drink in her hand. "This is amazing. I know who it is, but please, please, please give me the satisfaction of hearing you say it." 

"You're a really mean best friend, you know that?" Peter grumbles. He sighs and replies in a quick, mumbled breath. "I may or may not have a crush on Johnny Storm." 

"Finally! You admit it!" Gwen laughs. "Congratulations on finally realizing what we all knew all along. So you're gonna ask him out tonight? Have fun and don't forget to tell me all the details tomorrow." 

"I wasn't planning on asking him out! It's just... well, me and my big mouth." Peter sighs. 

"Listen....Do you remember when we got together? It was so obvious to everyone that we liked each other and I kept dropping hints that I wanted to go on a date with you, but you were still too scared to ask me out? I wound up having to lock us in a closet until you asked me to the movies and you were terrified, but it turned out okay?" Gwen reminds him. "Imagine that exact same scenario, except Johnny likes you about three times as much as I did back then." 

Peter makes a face. "He does not. I think you're starting to hallucinate things, Gwen." 

"Oh please." She scoffs. "Half the girls at school are jealous of you because of how much time Johnny spends with you. He's obviously smitten with you. Go ask him out. I won't talk with you until you do." 

"Gwen!" 

"Oh, weird. I hear this little buzzing in my ears. That's funny." 

"You're so mean." 

"Oh. Buzzing again! I guess I should leave this corner. Too much buzzing." 

She winks at him before walking away, but Peter can only scowl. He knows he's brought this all upon himself and that, realistically, it's no worse than all the supervillains he has to fight. If he can do that, he can definitely tell Johnny he likes him and ask him out. But there's a part of him that's still in a bit of denial about the fact that he's crushing on Johnny, even if he's come to realize that Johnny's really not that bad. 

He doesn't have much of a choice, though. He cornered himself when he decided to open his mouth and tell Johnny all that stuff about impressing someone tonight. Peter pretends he's about to face off with the Sinister Six or something and gathers up all the courage he'd have in that situation before going off in search of Johnny. Never mind that this is ten times scarier. When he spots Johnny holding two beer bottles, he briefly considers just running away and telling Johnny things hadn't worked out next time he sees him. But no, Gwen would never let him live that down. 

He walks over to Johnny and waves awkwardly. "Hey. Can we go talk? Somewhere more quiet?" 

"Oh. Yeah, c'mon, let's head outside," Johnny says. He passes the second bottle to Peter and then grabs his hand to tug him through the crowd and out to the front lawn. The music from inside is muffled from out here and it's empty, except for some kids in a corner sharing a joint. Johnny pulls them down to the curb so they can sit. "Did you talk to him?"

"Not yet." Peter sighs. He leans back to lay against the grass and looks up. It's just suburban enough that there's a handful of stars visible, but mostly, it's just an unnaturally bright night sky from the city's light pollution. "Don't you wish things always looked like in your planetarium?" 

Johnny lays back next to him and angles his head to look towards Peter. "That would be nice. But then where else am I supposed to take the people I want to impress. You've got to leave me my secret weapons, Pete. You've got your cute hair and camera print shirts, I've got the planetarium." 

"You think my hair's cute, huh?" Peter asks. He turns his head, too, close enough that their noses are almost touching. Peter doesn't remember ever being this nervous when he was asking Gwen out. 

Johnny rolls his eyes and reaches up to poke at a curl that's fallen over on Peter's forehead. "Don't change the subject. Did mystery guy like your shirt?" 

"I'm pretty sure he did. He helped me pick it out." Peter can feel himself growing bright red, but he forces himself to push forward, before he changes his mind. "It's you, Johnny. I've... I've come to realize that I like you a lot, Johnny. I don't suppose you'd want to go out sometime? Maybe we can get ice cream and go to the Rose Center?" 

Johnny doesn't say anything for a moment, just lays there and stares at Peter. It's horrifying and Peter has to force himself to lay there and not run away. But finally, Johnny laughs under his breath and reaches over to lay a hand on Peter's waist. "Jeez, Peter, I've been taking you out to ice cream and coffees and the most romantic place in the Baxter Building and you have to ask if I'll go out with you. You really are the dumbest genius I know." 

He pulls him closer into a kiss, while Peter's mind is reeling to connect the dots from the last two months. He'd always known he can be a little oblivious when it comes to these things, but he's not  _ this  _ bad is, he? As fascinating a discussion as that would probably be, Peter is soon distracted by how soft and  _ just too warm  _ Johnny's lips are against his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: wrote the chapter  
> also me while editing it: oh my god oh my god its happening its HAPPENING! oh my god


	15. get lost in us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg y'all I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you wait a week for this I just genuinely forgot to update sksksksk
> 
> CW: food mention
> 
> chap title from Perfect Places by Lorde

The thing with Peter is that no matter how smart he is, he's never quite been able to figure out the little things without someone pointing him in that direction. Once he figures it out, though? He takes that knowledge and runs with it. 

Case in point, he might have never actually figured out how he feels about Johnny if Aunt May hadn't forced him to put the dots together. Now that he's figured it out, though, here he is, making out with Johnny on Flash Thompson's lawn. He would have hated himself for this a few months ago, but right now, every inch of him is aflame in the best way possible and he never wants to leave Johnny's side again. 

At least, he doesn't want to ever leave until he sees camera flashes out of the corner of his eye. Peter pulls away and sees the smokers from before taking not so subtle pictures on their cellphones. He probably should have seen this coming before kissing a celebrity superhero in public like this, but it doesn't stop him from turning bright red in embarrassment. Moments like this, he wishes he could just walk around with his mask on all the time. 

Johnny sits up as well and scowls at the kids, which gets them to scatter. "Sorry about that. I'll talk to them. Get them to delete it." 

"It's okay. I know you're not out yet, so... I'm the one who should be sorry," Peter promises. 

"No big deal. Now, as lovely as kissing on Flash's porch is, maybe out in public isn't the best place for this? Besides, I want to do this properly. Take you out on a date and all that." Johnny shrugs. 

Peter spots Johnny’s ears turning pink, which is especially impressive, considering it means he has to be embarrassed enough to have completely lost control of regulating his body heat. It's also ridiculously adorable. Peter leans in to kiss his cheek one more time before going back to put a respectable distance between the two of them. "That sounds like a great idea, Johnny." 

***

The biggest thing about having a date with Johnny Storm the first week of summer vacation is that suddenly, being Spider-Man isn't the most exciting thing going on in Peter's life. It almost feels like an afterthought when he goes out on patrol. He's not rushing to get out like he always did on other times without school. 

The night before his and Johnny's date, Peter actually stops to think twice about whether he's going to go out. Part of him is terrified that he's going to get some dumb injury on his face or arms and completely ruin how he looks on his first date with Johnny. It's an incredibly vain, selfish reason to stay home and Peter would have definitely been ashamed of himself if he wound up staying home. 

Instead, the sky lights up with fire writing from Johnny - 'spidey, usual place?' - and Peter would have gone out either way. He hasn't seem Johnny as Spider-Man in a few weeks, definitely not since he and Johnny kissed. It's been even longer since they'd meet up at the Statue of Liberty. It has him spending the entire ride over nervous about what their meeting could be about. Johnny hasn't figured out his identity has he? The only thing that calms him down slightly is when he arrives and sees that Johnny looks just as nervous as he feels. 

"Hey, flame brain," Peter greets, an insult that has turned undeniably fonder over the last few months. 

"Spidey!" Johnny grins and comes over to hug him. It's a little awkward on Peter's part - he's busy thinking about their date tomorrow and Johnny's old crush on Spider-Man - but Johnny doesn't notice. "Thanks for coming by. So, I've kind of got something awkward to talk about today." 

"Oh. Um. Well... I'm all ears." Peter goes right back to anxiety that Johnny has somehow figured out his secret. 

"So, remember a while back when we talked about how you knew Peter Parker? Because he takes pictures of you and is like your brother? Well, I wanted to let you know that Peter and I are going on a date tomorrow. Because I respect you," Johnny explains. 

"Johnny..." Peter frowns so deeply, he's sure it can be seen through his mask. "Are you asking me for my blessing to take Peter out on a date?" 

"Well. It sounds weird when you put it that way, but yes." 

Mostly, Peter's managed to avoid talking about himself at all when he's Spider-Man. Well, himself as in Peter Parker, his secret identity, not himself as in Spider-Man. (Yes, it gets confusing sometimes.) Once or twice, photographers will ask Spidey about whether Peter Parker has a contract with him, and Spidey will just tell them that Peter's just lucky. There was the time at Midtown after the Hammerhead attack, as well. But mostly, Peter Parker doesn't come up when he's Spider-Man. 

And thank God for that, because Peter's head feels like it's going to explode right now. How is he supposed to reply to that? He feels like a jerk, letting Johnny talk to him like that without knowing that it's Peter behind the mask, but he doesn't know what else to do. No one knows his secret identity. Johnny's great, but he's not going to tell him just because of a quick bout of Jewish guilt up on the Statue of Liberty. The other difficult part is remembering that while Peter knows about Johnny's old crush on Spidey, Spidey's not supposed to. It's all just becoming a tangled web in his mind, pun very much intended. 

He finally smiles at Johnny and claps him on the back, hoping to come off as nonchalant as one can after a very long, very awkward minute of silence. "Of course you have my blessing, Johnny. You and Peter are your own people, it's not my place to tell you what to do. Have fun on your date tomorrow." 

"Oh good." Johnny breathes out a sigh of relief. "I was worried you were going to threaten to throw me off the Empire State if I hurt him or something like that. Which, you're totally allowed to. I don't want to hurt him. It was just going to be a scarier threat coming from you. I've seen you when you're having a bad day. You're pretty scary, Spidey." 

Should he have given Johnny a shovel talk? Damn. He hopes he didn't give away his secret identity just because he didn't want to threaten his not yet boyfriend from behind a mask. Peter spots a passing helicopter and decides that's as clear a sign from above as he's ever going to get. "Well. I should head out. Enjoy your date, flame brain." 

"Will do. Thanks, Spidey!"

***

The next afternoon, Peter gets ready for his date while pretending that he knew nothing at all about Johnny’s talk with Spider-Man the night before. It's a strange line to walk, trying to figure out what he should or shouldn't know as Peter Parker. Johnny wrote in the sky to meet at the usual place, which pretty much everyone knows is code to meet up with Spidey, so he should know that. But the whole 'ask for Spidey's blessing' is definitely not something Peter would know. Should he be able to guess what the meeting was about? Who was it that told Johnny that he and Spider-Man are like brothers? Was it him as Peter or him as Spidey? He can't even remember now, which... is a prime example of the worst parts of being superhero with a strict secret identity. 

He spends so long trying to figure out how to get his story straight that he's almost late for when Johnny's supposed to pick him up. He makes it downstairs in time only because he happens to see Johnny's car round the corner through his bedroom window, which reminds him to finish buttoning up his shirt and hurry downstairs. He arranges himself on the couch for a totally calm and casual look that says 'I'm chill' instead of 'I changed my shirt nineteen times'. Aunt May teases him for it, but at least she's not still laughing when she opens the door. 

"Johnny! It's so nice to see you again. Especially under the circumstances. Come on inside," she says, ushering him in and closing the front door. 

Peter sits up and grins when he spots the flowers Johnny's holding. "Are those for me?" 

Johnny scoffs. He passes them over to Aunt May instead. "Don't get too wild, these are for your aunt. I mean, I guess if she puts them some place where you can both see, then they're for you, too, but they're mostly for Mrs. Parker." 

"Well, aren't you charming." Aunt May laughs. "Why don't you sit on the couch next to Peter so I can get a picture of you both?" 

Peter groans. "Aunt May, it's a date. Not homecoming or prom or something." 

"I'll get pictures of those, too, don't worry. Now smile." 

Peter might grumble and complain, but he ends up smiling for the picture, because of course he does. He would always end up doing what his aunt asked of him. Johnny plays along with it, too. He sits down and wraps an arm around Peter's shoulders before grinning for the camera. A few weeks back, Peter would have thought he was just putting on some big act so everyone thought he was God's gift to Earth. Now, though, Peter's sure that Johnny just really is that annoyingly charming. 

He even leans in to kiss Peter's cheek for one of the pictures, which Aunt May just absolutely adores. She sighs and coos like she's watching one of those silly puppy videos on her tablet. Peter has to admit, Johnny knows how to get old ladies wrapped around his finger. When they walk out to Johnny's car, Johnny promises her, "I'll have Peter home by ten," and Peter's pretty sure Aunt May wants to have Johnny for herself. 

When they're both seated in Johnny's car and Aunt May's closed the front door again, Peter leans over to kiss him. "I think according to the laws of physics and biology and just general common sense, you should look like a douche in a leather jacket. And don't get me wrong, you sort of do, but you pull it off remarkably well." 

"Well, thank you. Slightly douchey, but attractive is always the look I'm going for. You don't look half bad yourself, Parker." Johnny grins. "So... Fair warning. Sue and our PR people were pretty adamant that unless we went to some fancy place with discreet staff and patrons, we'd have to make sure the place was empty, so... Don't be surprised when we show up at the diner and no one's there. Sorry about that." 

Peter nods slowly. It'll feel weird, but he much prefers that to getting pictures of himself all over the place. "Oh. That makes sense. I hadn't really thought about it, but I guess it makes sense. We're getting the celebrity treatment, huh?" 

"Yup. Order all the milkshakes you want, Sue set up a tab." Johnny laughs. "I'm half afraid she and your aunt are going to start talking and set up a committee to make sure you and I stay together as long as possible. She's a big fan of you." 

"Really?" Peter grins. The Fantastic Four were, after all, the superhero team that helped inspire him when he started his own vigilante career. Plus, he's pretty sure anyone in their right mind would be excited to hear that Susan Storm likes them. "Aunt May adores you. She's been rooting for you since back when I didn't even like you." 

"Lucky me." Johnny grins and pulls up into the parking lot of some classic style diner. And even though it's ridiculous and unnecessary, he rushes around to the other side of the car to open Peter's door for him. 

'You weren't kidding about it being empty," Peter notices. The blinds are even pulled close on the windows. "I hope Sue is ready to find out exactly how much money in milkshakes two teenage boys can spend."

"Hell yeah, Peter. I knew there was a reason I like you." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I started an accompanying piece to this which will be some key moments of the fic from Johnny's POV :D I have a few chapters I'm starting to write up already, but feel free to leave your favorite moments and I might write them!


	16. must have some portraits in the attic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: mentioned antisemitism and transphobia, food
> 
> Chapter title comes from Doom Days by Bastille

Summer vacation. Peter's loved it ever since he was a kid. It was when he got to do all the science he actually found interesting as a kid, instead of whatever was on the syllabus for school, and now that he's older, it's when he gets to go out and do Spider-Man things without having to worry about homework or never getting enough sleep. 

Since middle school, it's also been when Harry Osborn comes back home from boarding school and they can hang out again. This year, it also means getting to hang out with his boyfriend (!) and his boyfriend's famously intelligent brother-in-law (!!). Peter's not actually confident about what sort of changes come along from spending summer with a boyfriend, but he's looking forward to it. They've already spent a couple of days just hanging around in the Baxter Building, which is much more fun than when Peter would come here to work on their project, still convinced that he hated Johnny. Harry's coming back from school this weekend and Peter can't really imagine summer getting any better than this. 

He must be straddling the line towards being  _ too  _ excited because even Johnny, who gets giddy about the smallest little things, starts teasing him about how eager he is. He'd even set a countdown until Harry gets back to town and they get to meet up at his place for movies and endless snacks like when they were little kids. 

"Should I be worried about this Harry kid?" Johnny teases, as though Peter hasn't just spent all day at Baxter Building with him. They're cuddled up on the couch watching Netflix and getting distracted with kisses even now. According to Ben, they look 'disgustingly' adorable. 

Peter rolls his eyes. "Harry's just a good friend of mine. You have nothing to worry about, because he's actually pretty nice. My type is more 'annoying jocks I dislike so much that hatred blurs into love'." 

"Ah! So you love me?" Johnny grins.

"You think you're awfully clever, don't you?" Peter laughs. That makes it easier to hide how he's blushing. At least Johnny's body temperature skyrocketed too, a sure sign that he feels just as embarrassed and awkward as Peter does about that word. "Don't get ahead of yourself. I'm still waiting on a trip to the moon before I make declarations of love." 

"I'm glad we're clear where we stand. I'll talk to Reed right away," Johnny promises and actually starts pulling out his phone. 

Peter's pretty sure he's bluffing, but he laughs and bats his phone out of his hands anyway. It's as good an excuse as any to climb onto his lap and kiss him, just to be doubly sure that Johnny's not going to go and ask something embarrassing of his brother-in-law. And yeah, this is definitely the best summer Peter's had in a long while. 

***

"Jeez, Peter, you've bulked up since I last saw you!" Harry exclaims, within seconds of seeing each other again. 

They'd decided to meet up at a park near Peter's house and while Harry already knows that Peter has a new boyfriend - and who, exactly, that boyfriend is - he'd decided to leave the introductions for later. It probably won't be as jarring for Harry to meet Johnny as for some other people, seeing as he's probably used to meeting all sorts of people because of the Osborn name, but he'd rather save the awkwardly unnecessary introductions for another time, after he and Harry have had a chance to catch up a bit. 

Peter looks down at himself self consciously and realizes that the last time Harry saw him in person, Peter had only just started testosterone. Between HRT and the spidey powers, this last year or so has given him far more growth and muscle than most boys his age. And the visual of it doesn't even do his actual strength these days justice. Not that he'll risk his secret identity by telling Harry that he's actually far stronger than he looks. He just shrugs, embarrassed, and waves it off. 

"My job at the Bugle is like a workout sometimes," he explains, which isn't technically a lie. "But look at you! You grew like another six inches since I last saw you." 

"What can I say? They feed us well at the types of boarding schools rich dads send their disappointing sons, too." Harry laughs. If Peter didn't know him so well, he might even think that Harry really is completely unbothered by it. That he just thinks it's nothing but laughs how his father ships him away like this. But he knows better, so Peter tries to change the subject and cheer him up as quickly as possible. 

"Well, welcome back to New York. I have a full culinary tour planned so we can add a few more pounds to those new inches of yours. We're starting the day with bagels and ending with street hot dogs. I hope your stomach hasn't gotten too fancy in your time away," Peter teases. 

Harry grins. "I'm very much looking forward to find out." 

***

As much as Peter likes hanging out with Harry, having to go over to Harry's place is never any fun. Norman Osborn is... kind of a lot. He's been trying to convince Peter to intern at Oscorp for ages, but it's never stopped him from being a condescending ass to Peter whenever he's around. For anything and everything. For being trans, for being Jewish, for being too smart, not smart enough, too social with Harry, too boring with their video games. It doesn't really matter. Norman Osborn just seems to always find something to be upset about with people. 

But just as they pick up their hot dogs, the skies open up in one of those sudden summer showers and they're just around the block from Harry's apartment building. Even Peter can't think of a good reason not to seek shelter from the rain there. Not without bordering on rude with how he explains to Harry that he really just doesn't want to be around his father. So they run the rest of the way to Harry's apartment and shake off the rain water in the lobby, under the disdainful look of the doorman. 

Luckily, Harry is from a family rich enough that they just get a disappointed sigh and look from the doorman instead of getting properly scolded. When they get upstairs and sit to eat their cheap hot dogs, Peter's pretty sure the sofas they're sitting on cost more than he and Aunt May's entire house. That's the kind of rich Harry is. It's really a small miracle that Harry had flunked out of New York's most expensive schools so much that he wound up Peter's classmate in middle school. It had been brief, just until his father could find him a strict enough boarding school for the next semester, but enough that they'd become fast friends. 

Peter had worried that going away to boarding school upstate would turn Harry into the same unbearable type of rich guy that Norman Osborn is, but it hasn't happened so far. Harry's still the kind of guy that can eat suspicious cart hot dogs and guzzle down lukewarm beer with Peter. They turn on some bingeable sitcom on Netflix while they eat, but it's mostly just background noise while they catch up. For every joke or gag on the show, Harry seems to recall a new story about his classmates. Mostly, it's making fun of how out of touch with reality all his rich classmates are, which Peter definitely appreciates. 

He's about to tease Harry some more, start telling him that he should be doubly appreciative of Peter for keeping him in check before he becomes one of those out of touch kids, but he's distracted by a sudden flash of cold that runs down his spine. His head lights up with a sharp, brief sting, like a strange case of brain freeze. Peter knows exactly what it is, even if it should absolutely not be happening inside Harry's apartment: His spider senses. 

Luckily, Peter's gotten used to it being set off by strange things in day to day life, like things being tossed near him in classrooms or hurried commuters colliding with him on subway platforms. Moments like those are what keeps him from reacting too severely and having to explain to Harry why he'd lashed out to nothing in his apartment. Because there aren't balled up pieces of paper being thrown here or businessmen late to a meeting. There's nothing here except for him, Harry, and... oh. 

The front door shuts with much more noise than it had been opened and Peter finally looks back in time to spot Norman Osborn walking inside. Norman Osborn sporting a suspicious looking bruise on his jaw and looking dead tired. Which... sure. He works long hours, but Peter's never seen him looking quite so exhausted. Just like Norma's always been an unpleasant person to be around, but he'd never set off Peter's spidey senses, even when they were brand new and it seemed like every little thing could set him off. 

Norman walks over towards them on the couches and Peter's senses keep up a low level buzz, like a live wire. He looks disapproving at the hot dog wrappers on the table, but says nothing. "Hello, Peter. I wasn't aware you were coming over today." 

"Dad. We talked about it at dinner yesterday," Harry reminds him. He smiles awkwardly at Peter, obviously embarrassed. "Sorry, Peter. Dad's been working a lot. Forgetting lots of little things." 

"Oh. It's okay," Peter promises. It's not like Norman hasn't always been blunt to the point of rude. Besides, Peter's more curious about other things now. He gestures vaguely to his own chin, hoping it's not too obvious to just ask. "That's a nasty bruise, Mr. Osborn. Lab accident?" 

Norman reaches up to ghost his fingers along the bruise, like he'd forgotten it was there in the first place. "Something like that. Perhaps you were right to never take me up on those internships, hmm? Though perhaps I might still convince you to tutor Harry over the summers. I'll make something of this boy yet. Now, I'll leave you two on your own. Work never ends when you run the company, I'm sure you understand." 

They both watch him leave awkwardly and don't relax back into their previous vibes until they hear a door close and Norman disappears into his home office. Harry groans and hits play on the sitcom again. At this point, Peter's not even sure who dislikes Norman more between him and Harry. At least Peter only has to be around him when he's visiting Harry. 

"Sorry about him. He's been  _ really  _ weird since I came back from school. I guess this year has been weird at the company," Harry explains. 

"Yeah..." Peter nods halfheartedly and stares down the hallway where Norman walked down. The tingling has faded away, but he knows he won't be able to just forget about this so quickly. "I guess I'll have to come over plenty of times this summer, huh? To keep you company from the ramifications of Oscorp's fiscal year or whatever." 

"Ha. Something like that, Pete. You're welcome here whenever. Now, I know we just ate, but I've been craving a real New York pizza for a while. If you order some, I'll go digging through Dad's liquor cabinet?" 

"Sounds like a plan, Harry." 

***

The plus side of dating Johnny Storm is that Peter has been spending a lot more time with the Fantastic Four. They hang out at the Baxter Building far more than at Peter's place and even though that usually means locking themselves away in Johnny's room - if they spend too much time in common areas, Sue will embarrass him and Ben or Reed will scare Peter away, according to Johnny - it's still difficult to forget that they're hanging out at the Fantastic Four headquarters. Especially when they eat together or when they cross paths in the kitchen. It would be cool for anyone, but Peter gets doubly excited to know he's spending time with superhero peers. 

The downside is that the rest of the team doesn't actually realize that they're hanging out with a superhero peer. Normally, not a big deal, but it means Peter can't tell them when Spidey related things happen. Doubly frustrating when it's something he doesn't really know how to approach, like his spider senses being set off by Norman. He's sure Reed would be able to do some deep research into Oscorp, to find if maybe there's something there that could have set off Peter. But he can't really ask that, now can he? Not without explaining his spider senses. He could say he just felt something off about him, but then he'd probably just come off as the judgy, paranoid boyfriend trying to take advantage of Johnny's resources. 

Obviously, the only viable option left for Peter is just to do a lot of sulking about everything. Peter always does a little more sulking than any average person probably should, He and Johnny are only ten minutes into their lunch date when Johnny decides to call him out on it instead of just politely ignoring it like he does with most of Peter's oddities. (Most of which are related to his being Spider-Man, though Johnny doesn't know that, of course.) 

"So. I don't want to come off as some asshole macho man, but give it to me straight: do I need to kick Harry Osborn's ass?" Johnny asks. "Because you've been acting weird since you went to hang out with him. Your texts were off and now you're not really acting yourself here either. So... What's up? Because I will beat up the heir to Oscorp, don't think I won't." 

Peter nearly chokes on his falafel wrap from laughing so quickly. "Please don't beat up Harry. Everything's fine. It was just weird to be at his apartment again. It's been a while and his dad's kind of a dick. That's all." 

The fine line between the full truth and a lie is practically where Peter's lived since becoming Spider-Man. Lucky that he has so much practice with it these days. Johnny examines him carefully from across the table and clearly doesn't believe everything he says, but he doesn't pry. It's the best part of dating Johnny. Working with aliens and supervillains has made him unlikely to pry about much. 

Johnny just shrugs. "Yeah, Reed's met him a few times and says he's kind of a dick. I'll hold off on beating Harry up. Just tell me if that changes, okay?" 

"You'll be the first person I call if I ever need someone beat up. I'm sure it'll pass when we get back into the swing of things," Peter promises. As much as he wishes he could talk this over with someone who might understand, the temptation is too much. He just needs to get them away from the Osborn men and hope the spider sense issue goes away on its own. "Let's get through this falafel so we can get to that baklava you've been hyping up since you picked me up." 

"Trust me. It's the best dessert you'll have in your life, Parker. It'll rid you of Osborn related problems in a heartbeat." 

Here's to hoping. 


	17. they sleep with a gun and keep an eye on you, son

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chap title from Teenagers by My Chemical Romance

If Peter survives long enough to retire from being Spider-Man, he's going to write a book one day, entirely dedicated to how to survive teenage vigilantism. It probably won't have much of an audience, but that's okay. He'll just write to all the future Peter Parkers of the world, all the tips and tricks and answers he wished he had when he was trying to balance high school and a secret identity. He'll fill it up with all the incredibly specific scenarios he's had to deal with, because if someone else has the bad luck of being bitten by a radioactive spider in high school, they probably also have his bad luck for getting into unlikely scenarios. 

For example, there'll be an entire chapter dedicated to what to do when you suspect one of your best friends' dad is up to no good, but you have to act casual about it, both to not cause conflict and because, once more, secret identities should remain secret. In that chapter, Peter will let all future Spider-People know that bringing your boyfriend over to hang out at your friend's apartment sounds like a great idea in theory. Your friend will be distracted by the superhero in his living room, your boyfriend will be distracted with jealousy. Perfect. 

He'll then go on to explain how in practice, it's a lot messier than that, because the result of one starstruck best friend and one jealous boyfriend is that they'll both want to have you close to them the entire time. Not very conductive to sneaky investigations. Peter's sandwiched between the two of them right now, wondering why there wasn't already a market of how-to guides for young superheroes when he first started doing all of this. It would have been much easier, wouldn't it? Before this, he really thought it was physically impossible for Johnny to stay quiet for such an extended period of time. 

Finally, when it gets to be a bit too much, Peter decides that he can do with a little less subtlety. Johnny and Harry are so focused on scowling at each other, they probably won't even notice anything amiss either way. He stands up from between them and clears his throat awkwardly. 

"I'm going to the bathroom. Try not to kill each other while I'm gone?" Peter suggests. 

He leaves them there before hearing their answer, because at least this way he has plausible deniability if he comes back and finds two corpses. He has other things to worry about right now, like figuring out what could possibly set his spidey senses off in this place. His gut is already assuming the worst of things, private accusations that he doesn't even want to put words to until he's sure of it. Villains are scarier when they're closer to Peter outside his costume. 

Peter's been here often enough that he could probably find the bathroom blindfolded and half asleep, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the Osborn apartment is exactly the type of extravagantly large penthouse where a stranger would get lost. Peter uses that entirely for his benefit. He commits to the act just in case Norman's had some sort of surveillance system put in place since the last time he was here. He wanders around with a confused look in his face and opens up a few doors that he knows lead to linen closets or empty guest bedrooms. 

He hesitates before opening the door to Norman's study, because what if he's doing all this when there's really nothing amiss? What if his time as Spider-Man has just turned him into the type of paranoid jerk that sees villains everywhere he looks? But no... his spidey sense hasn't let him down in the past and he knows he'll never be able to sleep at night if he doesn't at least look more deeply into it. So with one more deep breath to work up the nerve, Peter opens the door and takes a peek inside. 

Peter can practically feel his stomach sink and his heart shatter when he spots a familiar purple boot half kicked under a futon. There's a door towards the back corner of the room where Peter could have sworn there was only a bookshelf before this and he's about to throw caution to the wind and go inside to explore more, even though he definitely can't claim he was just looking for the bathroom. 

He might have gone through with the investigation if his spidey senses didn't suddenly start screeching just as a hand comes down on his shoulder. Peter lets out an undignified squeal and jumps so high, he half expects to stick to the ceiling. He's not surprised to see Norman standing behind him, even though he'd never heard him come inside. He tries to look as innocent as possible, hoping that looking more embarrassed than scared will do the trick. Norman doesn't look amused either way. 

"Hello there, Mr. Parker. I'm sure there's an excellent reason as to why you were sticking your nose where it doesn't belong," he drawls, staring Peter down. 

"Yeah, funny story." Peter laughs awkwardly. "I was looking for the bathroom? This definitely isn't it, huh?" 

"No. No, it's not," Norman agrees coldly. "How strange. And here I thought after all that time you spent here with Harry, you'd know where the bathrooms were."

"Ah well... It's been a while. If you could just, uh, point me in the right direction, I'll be out of your hair. Sorry about that," he apologizes. 

Norman walks Peter there instead and stares at him suspiciously as he walks inside. He's still standing there a few minutes later, when Peter's calmed himself down and reemerges once more. Thank God Peter had decided to be careful and actually go through the motions of flushing the toilet and letting the faucet run for a few moments. Norman doesn't follow Peter back out to the living room, but he feels his eyes on him until he rounds the corner back to the couches. 

Damn. He should have been more careful. With any luck, Norman will just write this off as his son having weird friends and not think about it any more, but Peter has a feeling he's not going to get that lucky. It doesn't help that now his entire being is on high alert. Hairs standing up at the back of his neck, cold hands, shifty eyes trying to keep track of all the corners where an enemy could ambush him. When he gets like this in costume, he just swings around from the tallest buildings he can find until the adrenaline levels out again. As Peter Parker, there's not much he can do except go to sit down with his friends and hopes he doesn't look  _ too  _ weird. 

Harry and Johnny still have some obvious tension between them, but they seem to have achieved at least some dubious peace with a conversation about last night's baseball game. As soon as Peter settles down between them again, though, Johnny eyes him oddly and trails off from his conversation with Harry. He grabs Peter's hand and stands up with him before Peter can say anything about it. 

"Sorry, Harry, I just remember that we're having lunch with my sister. See you around!" Johnny says, then drags Peter with him back out to the hallway. 

Peter shrugs his arm away from Johnny once they get to the elevator and glares at him. He's having a hard enough time looking into all of this without Johnny making it more difficult. "What the hell, Johnny?" 

"That guy's dad is a creep and something clearly happened while you were gone! You're lucky I didn't fly us out the window on the spot," Johnny huffs. 

"Seriously? Harry's dad is a little weird, so you get to decide for me when we leave places? Not cool, Johnny," he complains. Peter tries to remind himself that Johnny doesn't know he's Spider-Man and has no way of knowing that Peter can more than take care of himself, but even with that in mind, he's annoyed. Johnny's jealous streaks are only cute to a certain extent and this? Definitely not cute. 

"So nothing happened when you went to the bathroom?" Johnny asks. He crosses his arms over his chest and frowns down at Peter. "Tell me you weren't acting weird and I'll even call Harry to apologize." 

Peter sighs. "Okay, yes, Harry's dad and I did have a weird run in in the hallway. I... Well, I kinda think he's up to some weird stuff so I might have been snooping a little to see if I found any evidence. He didn't really like that very much." 

"You were snooping for evidence?" Johnny frowns. "Babe, did Spider-Man put you up to this?" 

"What kind of question is that? Of course Spider-Man didn't put me up to it!" Peter blushes unconvincingly, not so much out of guilt for lying, but because he really hadn't considered how difficult it would be to date a guy who knows Spider-Man as more than just pictures in a newspaper or blurry videos on YouTube. He's had to be far more aware of everything he says and he's not very good at it. 

Johnny looks even more suspicious as they walk out to the street and he leads Peter to his car. "Let's pretend I believe that for now. Maybe in the future don't investigate creepy dudes without giving your literal superhero boyfriend a heads up." 

"Sure, we'll jot that one down right next to 'no dragging your boyfriend away from his friends in a fit'." 

"Yup. Those are rules one and two from now on." 

***

Peter should have known that Johnny would never let something like that go so easily. Not when he was clearly worried about the Osborns and Peter's involvement in Spidey adjacent things. Maybe he'd just wanted to believe that for once in his life, things would go simply. it was wishful thinking, clearly. 

He's only been out on patrol for a few minutes when Johnny intersects him mid-swing and gestures to a roof for them to stop and talk. It's not always easy to tell how Johnny's feeling when he's flying, but right now, Peter can see that he's upset, even through the flames. It's not a great sign, but Peter pulls over to the rooftop anyway. Seeing Johnny as Spidey has been the most awkward thing imaginable since they started dating and he'd rather they get it over with as quickly as possible and not make Johnny chase him around the city. 

When Peter approaches Johnny, he tries to pitch his voice lower and walk with a wider gait than normal. He probably ends up coming off like someone who's hit his head one too many times, but so long as Johnny doesn't start to connect the dots, everything else is fine. From this close, Peter can see that Johnny is glaring daggers in his direction and he decides that opening with a joke is probably  _ not  _ the best idea. 

"What can I help you with today, flame brain?" Peter asks, after briefly doing inventory of his mind to try to recall if he's ever called Johnny that as Peter Parker. He can't remember, which is just a sign he needs to keep better track of these things. 

Thankfully, Johnny just seems too ticked off to worry about those things. He crosses his arms over his chest and keeps himself a good twenty or thirty degrees above the norm, so Peter can't even step near him without discomfort. "I think you know what I want, Spidey. I'm really cool about the whole vigilante thing and I know that you do a lot of good, but working outside the law doesn't mean you get to dismiss morals entirely. Maybe in the future when you're sniffing around for trouble, you should consider leaving baselines out of it. I know that you asked Peter to do some investigating for you. He could have been hurt!" 

"Did you seriously pull me aside to yell at me about that, Johnny? Are you serious right now?" Peter isn't sure what's more frustrating, knowing that Johnny clearly doesn't think he can take care of himself or the fact that he can't even say half the things he's thinking, because they would completely ruin his secret identity. Both of them make him want to yell his lungs out. He just grits his teeth and tries to string together a half decent lie. "I didn't ask Peter to do anything for me. He reached out to me to say he thought something was weird, I told him I'd look into it, and he must have thought I wasn't working fast enough because he took matters into his own hands. That's it." 

Johnny scoffs. "Likely story, Spider-Man. Peter seems to like you, so I won't give you too much of a hard time about it. This time. Keep my boyfriend out of your crime fighting from now on." 

And with that, Johnny leaves the rooftop, accelerating with a burst of flame so hot, Peter can smell where bits of his costume started to singe. The worst part is that he  _ knows  _ it was done on purpose, because all the time he spends with Johnny now means he knows that Johnny has to go through a ridiculous amount of training to control his temperature. Which doubly annoys him, because the same reason he knows that is the same reason Johnny shouldn't be bugging him about this, but of course, Johnny doesn't know any of that. 

Peter's not sure what part of his life was more absurd. The part where he ended up dating his once sworn enemy or the part where he's now sort of fighting with his sworn enemy turned boyfriend because he's a superhero with a secret identity. 

On second thought, maybe absurd doesn't even begin to cover it. 


	18. it's the invisible things that I love the most

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the weird update schedule! I genuinely just keep forgetting the passage of time and only realizing after a week+ has passed by oops 
> 
> chapter title is slightly edited lyric from Invisible Things by Lauv 
> 
> CW: vague hero typical violence

Being Spider-Man isn't what's going to kill him, despite everything that Peter once thought. No, no. What's going to kill him is that he's going to choke himself on the tangled web of lies that he's been building around himself. Just.. trip and end up with a neckful of spider silk choking the life out of him. And yes, okay, maybe he's a little dramatic, but so would anyone in a situation like this. 

Peter's just been a pent up ball of stress and frustration since his interaction with Johnny last night. It's probably not an odd reaction to fighting with one's boyfriend, but there's also the fact that his boyfriend doesn't actually realize they've had a fight. Another one of the joys of having a secret identity. He's getting very tired of it, but anytime he thinks about just throwing it to the wind, he looks at his Aunt May and his fully human friends and reminds himself why it's important to keep them out of harm's way. That doesn't make it much easier, though. 

He knows it's just frustration talking, but he's starting to weigh the pros and cons of letting a small group of people know his secret identity. You know, a small group like maybe four people who work together often and are close to both his identities anyway because he's dating one of them. It's all just hypothetical, though, and Peter knows the chances of actually doing that any time soon are slim. Daydreaming about it doesn't help as much as he would have liked. Which is a shame, because he's on a subway headed for the Baxter Building for a date with Johnny and that's all made ten times more awkward when he's brooding about things between Johnny and Spider-Man. 

He tries to act like he's feeling perfectly normal when he makes his way off the elevator and into the Fantastic Four's living room, but he's never been a very good actor. Johnny only looks at him for half a second before he starts frowning and gets up to grab Peter's hand. 

"You good, babe?" he asks. 

"I'm fine," Peter mumbles. "Just... long night. Can we head out for lunch? I kinda just wanna get there soon. I'm pretty hungry." 

Read: he doesn't want to linger here long enough to start making small talk with the rest of the team and risk finding out that Johnny's turned them sour on Spidey as well. Maybe all he needs is a few hours away from all the superhero things to feel better again and that's definitely not going to happen sitting in the headquarters of one of the country's most famous teams.

Johnny keeps looking at him oddly, but nods and goes to put his shoes on so they can head out. He shouts down the hall that he's heading out and receives a distant 'have fun!' from Sue before grabbing Peter's hand and joining him in the elevator to go down. Peter stays quiet on the ride back down, trying to just think about Johnny and their date, but try as he might, his brain can't get work out of his mind. It's just like a scratched record up in his brain, going over the same questions and problems over and over again. 

Is his best friend's dad a supervillain? Does his boyfriend hate one half of his identity? How is he even supposed to deal with a situation like his best friend's father being a supervillain? Is he going to end up losing the Fantastic Four as the only reliable backup he has in the city because of a misunderstanding with Johnny? Could he end up actually losing Johnny because of it? Are all the other vigilantes dealing with problems like this?

Johnny pretty much lets him brood quietly until they've gotten to their lunch spot and are safely tucked away in a table in the back. After the waiter drops off their menus and walks away, Johnny nudges Peter's foot under the table to get his attention. 

"Hey... Spidey told you, didn't he?" 

Peter has to actually fight away the urge to groan in annoyance. "What? No, I just-" 

Johnny cuts him off, "It's not that I think you can't take care of yourself. It's just I don't think any hero or vigilante should be sending civilians in to do our work for us. It's dangerous and goes against pretty much every self imposed honor code in the book." 

"Can we  _ not  _ talk about Spider-Man?" Peter snaps. Then immediately regrets it, not just because getting riled up about Spider-Man like this is probably the least subtle thing he can do, but because he doesn't want to be the kind of asshole who takes out his frustrations on his boyfriend for no reason. "Sorry. Just... Please? I've kind of had enough thinking about Spider-Man for now." 

Johnny nods. Slowly, but he does. "Right. No more talking about Spidey. Sorry, Peter. Did you see that summer math packet we got? I thought the whole point of summer was to take a break from it all, right? Wanna be study buddies on it? We can watch a movie and cuddle for every problem we finish." 

Johnny's pretty good at changing topics suddenly and not making it feel weird. Peter? Not so much. But he tries anyway, because he'd like to think he deserves one lunch without worrying about the city and all its villains. 

***

Peter wishes he had less of a moral compass. Then maybe his job would be just a little bit easier. For example, he could do things like just ignore the Green Goblin, because he doesn't want to risk getting involved and hurting Harry in any way. He could care a little bit less about what happens to the people in his life for being associated with Spider-Man if his secret identity ever came out. He could not overthink every little thing he does, as though everything is his fault one way or another. 

But that's not him. He cares too much and the memory of his Uncle Ben weighs a little too heavy on his shoulders for him to just ignore. So he suits up and goes out like normal, no matter how much he wants to just stick his head in the sand. He decides that he's not going to seek out Norman or Johnny, he's just going to let the night go by however it does. Just go on patrol and whatever happens, happens. Obviously, that means it all goes out the window pretty much as soon as he steps out of his bedroom window. 

He's only been swinging for half an hour or so and he's just gotten wrapped up with helping a lost kid find his way home when he hears an explosion from a few blocks away and knows it can't mean anything good. Usually, things with explosions and fire get handed off to the bigger, more official teams that have protocols and equipment on hand to deal with infrastructural damage and evacuations, but Peter can't just ignore it either. Especially not when he spots something fluttering around over the smoke that looks suspiciously like a flying hang glider. 

He'd really hoped he could at least have a few hours before he had to actually worry about anything important. But then he wouldn't be Peter Parker would he? 

He swings onto the scene and within ten seconds, he has a pumpkin bomb lobbed in his direction. Peter manages to dodge it, swinging off to the side so that it ends up crashing against the side of some office building. He'll get blamed for the damages later, but at least he's still up and able to fight off the Green Goblin properly before he can damage a lot more than just an office building. 

There's still a part of him that hasn't fully progressed that Harry's dad is the Green Goblin and he feels guilty to be fighting with someone he knows, someone he knows has a son waiting for him at home. But there's no time to get caught up in his feelings when Norman flys by on his glider, cackling about how he's going to take the whole city for himself.

"Hey, ugly! Halloween's not for another three and a half months!" Peter calls out. He anchors himself on a rooftop and shots a web up at Norman's glider, so it falters in its flight. 

The glider turns in midair and suddenly, Peter has the Green Goblin flying at him at full speed. (And really, is he supposed to be thinking of him as Norman or the Green Goblin? Because it's not really working to think of him as both at the same time.) Peter braces himself for another pumpkin bomb or something else from his bag of tricks, but the Goblin only slows to hover in front of Peter. He's wearing his full mask, but somehow Peter can still perfectly see the sneer that Norman wears so often. 

"You're fighting the wrong people, little spider. One day soon, the world will be for the smart and powerful," he promises. "It could be yours for the taking, but not if you continue to insist on meddling in this way." 

"That's funny, I don't remember signing up for the overdone supervillain plot newsletter!" Peter quips. 

Goblin shakes his head in disdain. "Goodness, do you ever shut up? Or do you simply bore all your enemies to death?" 

He takes a swipe at him, even if he knows it's just going to hit thin air after Norman flies away to dodge him. He has to at least try so Norman doesn't get any ideas about a changed status quo and develop an even worse ego. He misses, like he'd expected, after Norman pulls away, but he does manage to send the glider teetering in midair ever so slightly. Norman seems more upset by it than actually hindered, but Peter will take any victory right now, no matter how small. 

In his experience, no matter how flashy or well equipped the villain, most of these battles ultimately come down to hand to hand combat and quippy one liners at each other. Normally, Peter's pretty good at it, even the more physical aspects of a fight. It's much harder to do when he actually knows who's underneath the whole wacky villain get up. Peter wonders briefly if he's been dehumanizing his enemies in his head too much, but that's just an existential crisis Peter's going to have to save until after he's done fighting the Green Goblin. 

He gets a firm grip on the glider with both of his hands and yanks it out from under Norman so that it goes crashing up against the edge of the roof. Against his better judgement, he calls out, "I know who you are, Norman. You don't have to do this. Think of everything you're throwing away if you let this go too far. Think of Harry!" 

A surprised grunt is the only response Peter gets from him before there's a pumpkin bomb hurtled in his direction. Peter manages to dodge, but only by putting himself in the trajectory of a second pumpkin bomb Norman throws towards him. Peter feels a sharp crack on the back of his head and next thing he knows, he's laying down and blinking his eyes open. 

Norman is nowhere to be seen and his head is practically throbbing from the pain. When he tries to stand up, Peter's whole side aches and he has to hold back a grimace. He's not looking forward to seeing the damage on that once he undresses. He doesn't know how long he was unconscious, but he does know that even the briefest blackouts can be dangerous and that he's no use to the city if he ends up dying on a rooftop like this. So even though he feels guilty going home so soon after starting his patrol, he double checks that Norman is really gone for the night and then starts swinging home. He's sure he'll have other opportunities to get beat up on rooftops. 

***

In Peter's perfect world, he can keep up his charades forever without it ever becoming a problem or too much of a headache to maintain. In reality, everything about lying is much harder to pull off when he's constantly dealing with injuries, concussions, and the always present urge to confess what he's actually up to for the sole purpose of how much more interesting it makes him sound. Currently, he just has to look like a total, accident-prone nerd all the time. 

He's just had to tell Johnny that he hit his head after tripping in the subway to explain why he had to cancel their date. Johnny still comes over to see him, even if Peter warns that their time together is mostly going to be boring silence as Peter lays in the dark with a headache. It's almost infuriatingly sweet and Peter appreciates it, but it also makes keeping his secrets ten times harder. 

He and Johnny are laying in his bed together, with the shades drawn and all the lights off because they hurt Peter's head in the state he's in right now. Aunt May had definitely been suspicious of them, but he'd even managed to convince her to let them have the door closed so the hallway light wouldn't bleed in. And sure, Peter feels terrible right now, but he's not an idiot. He has a ridiculously hot, sweet boy in his bed with the door closed and the lights off. Of course they do some light making out. Peter's concussed, but he's not dead just yet. 

Which would all be fine, if it wasn't for Johnny's wandering hands. Peter doesn't mind it so much. Johnny's always pretty handsy, but he checks in constantly and has been nothing but perfectly affirming about Peter's gender, so normally, Peter's happy to act like a horny teenager. But his hand brushes up against the massive bruise on Peter's ribs from falling after the explosion and Peter can't help but let out a pained hiss. Johnny frowns and pulls away. 

Before Peter can wave away his concern, Johnny tugs his shirt up enough to spot the bruise. He winces sympathetically and even in the dark, Peter can see the way his eyes grow wide with concern. "Jesus, Pete... All this from tripping in the subway?" 

"I banged up against one of the poles while I fell. It looks way worse than it is," Peter lies. He feels Johnny's hand trail down the bruise and he thinks they linger on that old scar from the night Johnny patched Spider-Man up, but it's probably just his imagination. "Hey, it's okay. I hear that kissing pretty boys is a good remedy for bruises."

"Yeah... You promise you'll say if it hurts too much?" Johnny asks, frowning. 

"I pinkie swear. Now, c'mon, before you get called away to a national emergency and we lose the chance." 

"That only happened one time, Peter!" 


	19. i'm bad for my health, my head's on a shelf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shana tova everybody!!! hope y'all had a wonderful weekend, whether you were celebrating or it was just a random September weekend for you <3 
> 
> chap title from I'm Not Ok by Weathers
> 
> CW: food, comic typical violence, mild description of injury

There's absolutely nothing more awkward in the world than a hangout session where both Peter's best friend and boyfriend who hate each other are in attendance, all while Peter has to pretend he doesn't know that his best friend's dad is secretly the Green Goblin and that he's not lying to his boyfriend about what he does every night. It's a very specific scenario, but seriously, it's the most awkward thing Peter can possibly imagine and Peter has to actually live with it. 

At least Gwen's with them this time, which helps to ease some of the tension between Johnny and Harry. They still shoot each other dirty looks on occasion and keep acting like they're fighting over Peter's attention, but at least Peter has a third option to talk to so he can ignore them when they get a bit too much. He and Gwen keep sharing annoyed, but mildly amused looks whenever Johnny and Harry snap at each other one time too many. 

They're all huddled together on a picnic blanket in Central Park, eating too many hot dogs and pretzels while they make fun of tourists wandering the park. It's a pretty great summer afternoon, especially since Peter can lay his head on Johnny's lap and have his hair played with. He even manages to forget about everything that's been bothering him so much these last few days. For a little while, at least. He should know better by now than to expect moments like that to last. 

Harry checks his phone and lets out a sudden sigh. "A message from my dad saying he's not going to be home tonight and that I should order takeout. What a shocker. He's always been pretty absent, but it's been worse than ever since I came back. He's out more nights than not. I'm starting to suspect he has a girlfriend he doesn't want me to know about or something." 

Even Johnny lets out a sympathetic grunt at that, because how can you not sympathize with someone who's just told you about their neglectful father. But Peter's stomach ties itself up in knots and he wishes Harry hadn't said that, because Peter absolutely  _ knows  _ what it is that Norman disappears to do when he's gone at night and it's so much worse than a secret girlfriend. For someone whose whole life is pretty much an elaborate lie, Peter's really bad at it. Johnny looks down just when Peter grimaces and frowns at him. 

"Everything all right?" he asks, swiping his hair back from his forehead. 

Peter nods, probably too quickly to be believable. "Yeah. I think I just... had one hot dog too many. Don't worry about it. That sucks about your dad, Harry. I know it's not as nice as your place, but Aunt May would be happy to have you if you ever wanna crash at my place." 

(Except that, as horrible as he feels about it, Peter really, really hopes Harry never takes him up on that offer, because nine times out of ten, he's not even home most nights and he can't really explain to Harry why he climbs in and out of his window in a Spider-Man suit, can he?)

Thankfully, Harry just shrugs. "Thanks, Peter, but it's all right. I'm used to it by now. I'm just glad I can hang out with you and Gwen during the days. Even if you do bring your weird jock boyfriend along." 

That starts out another round of bickering between Johnny and Harry, which Peter is far too grateful for. It means the attention is taken away from him long enough that he can focus his face on  _ not  _ giving away how stressed out he is about everything with the Osborns. He just wants this whole thing to be over already. 

*** 

Contrary to popular belief, Peter doesn't actually go out looking for trouble. He really doesn't. His routine is simply to go out, wander around the city, and intervene whenever it's needed. When he started all this, Peter never thought that he'd be dealing with super villains. That sort of thing was for official heroes in his mind. He would be the one breaking up petty, everyday things. 

But here he is, swinging through back alleys and in between as many complex buildings he can find in hopes of losing the Green Goblin who's still hot on his tail. Peter had been hoping for a few more days before he had to deal with this problem. He's never  _ excited  _ to take down the really tricky bad guys like this, less so when they're his friend's father. But Norman doesn't seem to be in any mood to wait. On second thought, Peter should have probably held off on telling him that he knew his secret identity. He should have known it would just make Norman want to get rid of him faster. 

There's nothing he can do about it now, though, so he finally just pulls over at the first abandoned rooftop he spots. He was hoping they could get further out of the city first, so there would be less possible casualties to worry about, but the hang glider is a lot easier at maintaining high speeds than Peter and his webs are, so it's either here or get overtaken and risk the fight happening somewhere even more crowded. He stops abruptly enough that Osborn's glider jolts uncomfortably in midair, but it's not nearly as much of a delay as Peter would have wished it were. 

He'll just have to put his big boy pants on and face him head on, it seems. Peter double checks that his web cartridges are full and then turns to face Green Goblin as his gliders hovers a few feet from the air.

"Missed me so much you had to chase me down, Osborn?" It always helps to act more confident than he actually feels. That was one of the very first lessons Peter learned about crime fighting. "You could have just given me a call! I mean, I probably wouldn't have answered for someone like you, but you could have definitely left a message." 

He pulls in close to him, so that Peter can hear his snarl even from under the mask. It's all Peter can do not to wince when he starts talking right in his face, "If I wanted conversation, I could have come to you anyway I liked, Peter Parker. It's a shame civil conversation isn't what I'm looking for." 

Hearing his real name from a super villain's mouth startles Peter far more than he should ever let it. The logical thing to do would be to pretend he has no idea what Goblin's talking about, to just scoff and ask what his nerdy photographer has to do with it. But as it turns out, that's very hard to pull off amidst so much shock and instead, Peter just lets a surprised squeak escape him, which is probably all the confirmation Norman ever needed. 

While Peter stands there, confused and useless, Norman has the advantage he was probably waiting for all along. He takes a shot right at Peter's gut and even with his spider sense screaming in his head, Peter doesn't dodge it fast enough. It makes solid contact against the already tender bruise from last time and Peter can't help crumpling over, which of course puts him right in the trajectory of one of Norman's fists coming straight for his nose. 

He can already tell this is going to be an awful night. 

Norman grabs him by the front of his suit and tugs him up so he can growl in his ear. "I could kill you right here if I wanted to, but a big name like you deserves some fanfare."

He sinks the artificial claws on his glove into Peter's arms and starts flying off somewhere, dragging Peter along with him. The cuts hurt, but so does the sudden jolt of Peter's shoulder as he's pulled along. He's not sure what he feels more like an idiot for: somehow letting his identity slip out of the bag like that or letting himself get hit with enough force that he's too busy regaining his breath to fight back properly. It's like he's just made every rookie mistake in the world all at once. 

He struggles and flails in Norman's grip slightly, not even sure what he means to do. He'll fall if he gets free after all and he doesn't have a clear enough view of the buildings around him to be sure he can catch himself without injury. That's something he can worry about once he's in midair, though. The biggest problem is that every time he wiggle, the wound on his arm drags even deeper and longer and the pressure on his shoulder only increases. It's not a very good position to be in. 

Norman's flight finally ends at the top of the GWB, which leaves Peter queasy when he peers over the edge. Sure, he has his webs and he could probably swing to safety, but he's still not overly fond of being stuck at great heights with psychopaths. He also notices, with another wave of queasiness, that there's still traffic down on the bridge. It's a weekend night and there's probably some sort of concert or show going on. There's always something in the city. Of course there's traffic. But that doesn't mean Peter is any less frustrated by it. This is exactly the sort of place Peter tries to avoid during fights. 

He rolls onto his back on the ledge where he'd been dropped and glares up at him. "What do you want, Norman? This isn't going to end well for you." 

The glider hovers just above his chest, keeping him from standing up completely. Norman leans down and rips Peter's mask off him, which turns Peter's nerves up to the max, even if Norman already knew who he was. "Don't you see? I'm going to kill you and hang you right here so your whole city sees that no one can keep them safe. Not even their precious Spider-Man. I'm going to have my power one way or another."

"If that's the plan, then you're even dumber than I thought," Peter spits back. Hopefully, Norman's ego will keep talking while Peter's eyes scan their surroundings in search of something he can use against him. This part of superhero fights are just as important as throwing punches. "You could kill me and there would still be a dozen other superheroes swooping in to defend the city. Just give it up now, Norman. You can still have a normal life. A life with Harry! If you keep this up, you'll end up in The Raft until the day you die." 

"Harry is a weak disgrace of a son. Don't you see how much better this all is for me? Maybe seeing his freak of a friend's corpse in display will be just what he needs to finally toughen up." Norman cackles after saying that, because he really is just a villain straight out of a child's imagination. 

Thankfully, Peter doesn't need to listen to his manic rambling or bad mouthing Harry any longer. He spots a loose beam near the top, one that's more decorative than anything and the bridge can afford to lose. One well aimed web later, he's yanking it towards them with as much strength as it can muster. It doesn't knock Norman off his board like he'd hoped, but it hits his back and shoulder at an angle that sends him spiraling off course, which is as good an advantage as any. 

Peter hops onto his feet, ignoring the sharp pain at his side. He'll deal with that once he knows Norman isn't going to do something they'll all regret. He knows some of the older, more experienced heroes would probably tell him that he has too big of a heart and he needs to toughen up, but Peter genuinely never wants to take down any of his villains. In his perfect world, they'd realize the error of their ways and show up a few months later as reformed members of society. Or even better, that they would have never been put in situations that pushed them towards villancy in the first place. 

But this isn't a perfect world. It's the world where a very angry Norman Osborn is dressed up as a goblin and flying at him at full speed on a very threatening hang glider. Peter can feel bad about this later, when he's not about to be skewered. He flips out of the way a split second before he would have been hit and enjoys the extra few seconds that earns him when Norman overshoots and has to turn around again. It would be a perfect beginning to a perfect plan, if only he'd not forgotten the advantage to close quarter combat wherever Norman is involved. If he keeps Norman close enough, after all, he can't use his pumpkin bombs. After they have a few dozen feet between them, though? Not so much. 

Peter very suddenly has three pumpkin bombs flying at him and as much as he'd like to just dodge or throw them back towards Norman, that's not a risk he can take with so many civilians around. So instead, he webs them in midair and launches them towards the river. His most sincere condolences to the fish, but Norman's already proved to him that he needs to think quickly or lose any upper hand he has. Half a second later, Norman's speeding back towards him and instead of trying to dodge him completely, Peter jumps up at just the right time and flips over in midair so he can grab hold of Norman's shoulders and ride along with him. 

Norman lets out a frustrated roar and starts to dip in altitude, enough that Peter's starting to worry about getting close enough to cars for someone to take a picture or recognize him. He hides his face behind Norman's shoulder and tugs him backward so they'll start climbing up again. By now, their fight has been noticed and cars have started to stop, both to turn around and evacuate and to get a better view of the action. Up here, near the ledge where they began, there's enough debris and smoke from Norman's pumpkin bombs that Peter's not too concerned about getting identified. 

"You insolent boy! Don't think I won't destroy us both to rid the world of you!" Norman howls. 

"You sure about that?" Peter taunts. He needs to yell to be heard over the wind rushing at them as they fly. "Because I think you love yourself far too much for that."

Taunting his opponents is just what Peter does. He'd call it his  _ brand  _ even. It gets in their heads and makes the fight a little easier for Peter. He would never encourage them to actually hurt themselves. Especially not if he thought they would actually do it. That's what made it so easy to taunt Norman. Knowing the man's ego the way he does, he could never really picture him doing anything to endanger himself. 

Which is why it truly does come as such a shocker when half a second later, he and Norman are tumbling through midair, rapidly approaching the concrete ledge. Norman's gripping onto Peter, clearly hoping to pull him down with him, and when Peter looks up the hang glider is doubling back to chase after them again, probably with the intention to skewer through Peter, even if it has to go through Norman first. 

Moments like this, it's hard to really think. It all happens too fast for much thought. Usually, Peter's spidey senses and instinct are enough to get him out of danger, but there's only so much he can do when his main enemy right now is gravity. If he had enough time to think properly, he would have grabbed a firm hold of Norman and webbed them both out of here. Instead, he pushes Norman away from himself to escape the pain of his claws and tries to web himself towards one of the beams. His aim is off, but he breaks his fall somewhat at least. Just in time for the glider to crash down on him and leave a gash deep in Peter's belly. 

He's been in some pretty messed up situations before, but right now, with his head throbbing from smashing against the ledge, blood pooling around him with, and no mask is probably one of the worst places he's ever been. The funny thing about near death situations is that the brain pretty often chooses to focus on things that really don't matter all that much. 

For example, while a small, responsible part of Peter's brain is finding comfort in knowing that the crowd he saw earlier definitely means there's some sort of backup on the way, the loudest thought in his brain right now is lamenting that both his suit and binder are probably ruined now. He should worry more about whether his guts are spilling out right now, but no. He's just bummed about replacing things on his budget. What a shame. 

Maybe he can bill Oscorp for it. 

He starts fading out of consciousness and even though Peter knows he should be responsible and keep fighting, he lets it happen. The pain doesn't bother him if he's asleep, after all. Just before his vision goes completely dark, he could have sworn he saw a pair of familiar blue eyes staring at him, but it's probably just one of those last minute hallucinations the brain conjures to comfort people in their last moments. Huh. Peter should probably be more worried about dying, shouldn't he? 

Good thing being unconscious means not worrying about any of that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the shorts from Johnny's POV are now being uploaded! you can find them among my most recent fic titled 'puppy love (the Johnny POVs)' and they are also in the series that this work in now attached to :)


	20. please don't change a single little thing for me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: references to prior dysphoria, injury references, food references
> 
> chap title comes from Loving is Easy by Rex Orange County

When Peter wakes up, he has to stop for a second and seriously consider whether he's still alive. Last he remembers, he was bleeding out at the top of the GWB and now here he is, waking up in an overwhelmingly white room in a bed far more comfortable than anywhere Peter's ever woken up after patrolling. He forces himself to sit up, despite the jolts of pain, and looks down to see an IV at his hand, probably running through his body with a boatload of pain medications. It still hurts when he moves, but not nearly as much as the stab wound and impacts probably should have. 

Sitting up clears his head somewhat, enough for him to realize that no, he's definitely not dead. He might have never been in this room before, but he recognizes all the equipment. It's the Fantastic Four's medical equipment and this is probably some in house hospital room they have, because that's exactly the sort of thing a professional superhero team would spend money on. That alone is jarring enough, but then Peter reaches up to touch his face and confirm that yes, his mask is still missing, which means the entire team knows who he is now. He's spent so long keeping his identity secret even while dating Johnny only for it to slip out because of a stupid skirmish with Norman freaking Osborn. 

He lets himself be mad about it, because it's better than letting the fear and nausea overtake him. Have they told anyone else? Is Johnny mad at him for lying? Are they going to use this against him? Peter's going to need some answers soon or he's just going to panic himself into a terrible state. 

Even though it hurts, he struggles out of bed and onto his feet. He's in a pair of sweatpants that he recognizes as Johnny's and a hospital gown that's baggy enough to not send him into an immediate spiral, but only barely. He could probably cart around the IV setup with him, but Peter is all about the worst possible decisions, so he unhooks it from his hand and just wanders around freely. He's probably in more pain than most humans would be able to, but he's gotten used to a lot since becoming Spidey. 

He's not too worried about pain right now either way. He's too busy freaking out about his secret identity and that panic is  _ more  _ than enough to get him on his feet and walking out of this treatment room. He recognizes the floor they're on from when Johnny brought him up here to the planetarium and he takes a guess that the team will be in their living room area. Or at least one of them will. (Assuming there hasn't already been half a dozen alarms set off by Peter getting up in the first place.) 

The stairs would be faster, but there's no way he's going to stomach that right now, so he gets in the elevator and rides down to the common floor. It's far more awkward than an elevator ride should ever be and it only gets worse when the doors open and Peter spots not just the entire team sitting at the couch, but also his Aunt May. His stomach drops and Peter is half tempted to just wordlessly go right back upstairs and hide from this all. He's not ready for this fall out just yet. 

But of course, he can't just leave. There's five equally concerned sets of eyes on him and Johnny gets up to approach him so fast, the table nearly topples over. Peter is sure he's dangerously pale all over and he feels like he's going to throw up any second now. It's not very fun. Johnny rushes over and reaches out to steady him, like he thinks Peter might fall over on his own, which he's mildly offended by, but to be honest, the extra help does make it easier to stand without putting just as much strain on the pained parts of him. When he opens his mouth to talk, he feels like he's choking on air. 

"Peter!" Aunt May exclaims. She gets up and gives him a very careful hug, which still hurts even though he tries to hide it. "Thank God you're okay and awake. I was so worried, boychik." 

"Aunt May, I can explain..." he finally gets out. It's amazing how hard it is to get the words 'I'm Spider-Man' out, considering she's probably already been told. He doesn't even know how he's going to explain how he got the powers in the first place or everything that happened with Uncle Ben that made him want to fight crime. She'll probably hate him. 

He's about to just start rambling, when Johnny's hand on his shoulder squeezes gently and he speaks up for him. "It's okay, Peter. We explained to your aunt while you were sleeping."

Reed nods along and stares Peter down with a look that he recognizes as  _ play along.  _ "We explained how we found it was Norman Osborn under the Green Goblin mask and since you'd texted Johnny to tell him you were going to surprise Harry with a visit, we figured you walked in on the wrong thing and Osborn took it out on you in an attempt to silence you. It's a good thing Spider-Man showed up and kept you from being hurt worse."

"I texted Johnny about Harry..." Peter repeats, frowning. He was in his full Spidey suit when they found him, wasn't he? They definitely know he's Spider-Man, but - oh.  _ Oh!  _ They're helping him keep it secret from Aunt May. He almost blows the whole thing anyway by giving each and every member of the Four a kiss in gratitude, but he manages to just nod along dumbly. "Yes! Yeah, I did do that. Sorry, I hit my head pretty hard. Everything is a little bit blurry right now." 

"That's normal. You should definitely still be on bed rest. Come on, let's get you back up there," Reed says, standing up. "I can run a few more tests to check for damage now that you're awake and responsive." 

"You go ahead and get started on those tests, Peter. I'm going to go find a deli and pick up all your favorites, okay?" May promises, kissing his cheek before ushering him away with Reed and Johnny. 

"I know a  _ fantastic  _ deli near here, Mrs. Parker. It's the real stuff, none of that fancy gentrified crap that's been taking over. I'll walk ya there," Ben offers, standing up and leading May over to the second elevator. 

Peter's mostly still confused by everything, because even while he has the basic idea of what's going on here, the world is a lot more confusing after who knows how many doses of pain medication. Still frowning, he lets himself be led back into the elevator to return to the treatment room. Reed scolds him for leaving without his IV and checks him over in the twenty seconds it takes for the elevator to get upstairs. Peter lets it happen, because he really is mostly just.... incredibly confused about everything that's going on. He's sure part of it is the head injury, but in all the fake scenarios of getting his identity found out, it's never quite looked like this. 

When they're back in the treatment room, Johnny guides him to sit and Peter doesn't even bother complaining. He's exhausted from even a few minutes on his feet. He definitely took a beating in his fight with Norman. He doesn't even want to think about what would have happened if the Fantastic Four hadn't been there to usher him away to top tier medical treatment that he doesn't have to worry about paying for or trying to figure out how to not let his identity slip. It's probably the nicest thing that's happened to him since becoming Spider-Man. 

Peter looks between Reed and Johnny, hoping one of them will say something and address the obvious elephant in the room, but no. It seems they're not planning on being the ones to break the silence, so finally Peter asks, "So, uh.... what happened?" 

Reed is still checking over all of Peter's wounds and vitals, so Johnny is the one to sit down next to him and start explaining. "Twitter kind of blew up pretty quickly once Spidey and Norman started fighting up on that bridge. I knew something was up, so I kept trying to call you, but no one answered and things looked pretty bad from the videos on Twitter, so I put on my uniform and went over as quick as I could. It was pretty much over when I got there, but you were on the ground, covered in blood, and... Jeez, Pete, you know that thing ran you through? There was a  _ hole  _ in your torso. It was pretty scary. I'm pretty sure we have a noise complaint from the city on the way for breaking the sound barrier when I flew you back here." 

"I'll leave you two boys a little privacy," Reed interrupts, before Peter can even really react to anything Johnny's just said. He leaves one of the Fantastic Four chest badges on the bedside table. "For the record, there wasn’t a  _ hole  _ in your torso, so please don’t let Johnny scare you. But press that to page me if you feel too much pain or if something seems to be going wrong. And Peter? We haven't told you Aunt, but we will  _ definitely  _ be having a chat about this sometime soon." 

Peter nods nervously. "Yes, sir." Once Reed’s out of the room, he relaxes a little again, letting himself lean back against Johnny. He doesn't even like to be around Aunt May when he's not wearing his binder, but there's something about the warm aura Johnny always exudes that makes him feel better about the whole thing. He sighs and leans his head on Johnny's shoulder. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you... And I'm sorry you had to find out like this." 

"To be honest, I kind of had my suspicions. I mean, before finding you, I wouldn't have put money on it or anything, but... I can't say I was really surprised. And I think I understand why you didn't say anything, I just... I worry about you enough as it is. I'm never going to sleep again knowing you're running around by yourself every night and the closest thing you have to an HQ is your bedroom." Johnny rests his chin on top of Peter's head and it's nice to know they can still fit in like puzzle pieces even after everything's come to light again. 

"In my defense, I've been doing it since before I met you and getting by just fine," Peter points out. "It's just too dangerous for my identity to be out in public. You and the team keep yourselves safe with how popular and public you are, but I do this instead. I'm not a genius or a billionaire or an astronaut. I'm just some kid in spandex. It won't end well if I go public. Not just for me, but for Aunt May, too. I can't put her in danger because of the choices I made." 

"I get it. but you don't have to keep lying to me or the team. We've got your back, Peter," he promises. "Also... in retrospect, it's pretty embarrassing that I told you about my crush on Spider-Man. I admire you for not just bursting into laughter on the spot." 

Peter laughs. "I guess that was pretty funny, but mostly I was freaked out because I thought you might suspect something. It worked out pretty well for both of us, though, didn't it?" 

He tries to turn around and get up on his knees to give Johnny a kiss, but that just tugs uncomfortably at his stitches and he has to pull back with a pained groan. Johnny tuts disapprovingly and helps him move to lay down again. "None of that. You're  _ very  _ injured, even for an enhanced human. We can live out all of my Spider-Man related fantasies once you've healed." 

"I... Can't tell if you're joking or not." 

"I absolutely am not." 

So Peter lays down and accepts Johnny's doting until the guilt fades away from ruining his secret identity like this. It's good preparation for a few minutes later when Aunt May comes back from the deli and starts feeding Peter a diet comprised solely of matzoh ball soup until he feels better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one chapter left!!! aaah!!! I'm not going to lie I'm a little sad to see this end! 
> 
> there'll still be about two more chapters on the Johnny POV shorts so be on the lookout for that, as well as a WorldWarThreesome High School Au coming soon, so if that interests you, be on the lookout for that as well! As for Spideytorch, I am absolutely looking forward to what my next project with this ship will be, just not entirely sure what it is yet. But... we shall see!


	21. I loved you then and I love you now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last chapter omg!!! title comes from Tongue Tied by Grouplove

Peter heals after a couple of weeks. It's faster than any normal human being would ever heal from wounds like these, but thankfully, Aunt May doesn't know enough about biology to realize it's strange and Reed goes on and on about his 'advanced medical techniques' to explain why such severe injuries were healing quickly. Physically, Peter is pretty much fine quickly, just a few more scars he'll have to figure out how to explain. 

Mentally, he's not sure he's ever been so exhausted of vigilantism. He'd found out shortly after waking up that Norman hadn't exactly escaped unscathed. His fall had been harder than Peter's and when he'd woken up in custody, he had no memory of being Green Goblin at all. No memory of much since Harry was a kid, actually. Normally, Peter would be suspicious, but he doesn't even have the heart to think about it too much after the first time he sees Harry after. 

Poor Harry is an absolute wreck. Why wouldn't he be? He'd lost his mother already and now he doesn't even have a father to come home to during the summers. The day Norman was officially sentenced - in a trial so speedy that even Peter thinks it's ridiculous - and taken away, he and Gwen visited Harry. Peter's stomach was in absolute knots. He was sure he was about to throw up all over Harry's fancy furniture any second. He couldn't help it. He'd apologized. 

"I'm... really sorry about your dad, Harry," he'd said. "I wish it didn't need to be like this." 

Harry had scoffed and glared out his window, towards the city skyline. "He hurt you, Peter. Don't apologize. It's Spider-Man who should apologize to me. Things like this didn't happen before he went around picking fights with every guy on a power trip this city has to offer. He makes it worse every time." 

And how is a friendship like that supposed to survive? They're both guilty for things the other doesn't think they're responsible for and Harry, even if he doesn't realize it, hates Peter. There's really no coming back from that. So as much as it hurts him, Peter knows that when he bids Harry farewell that day, it'll be the last time they're together for the foreseeable future. 

Superheroing. It's not always fun thrills. Sometimes it rips your heart out in the least expected ways. 

* **

While Peter's recovering, he and the rest of the Fantastic Four team fall into a sort of mutually agreed upon silence where they don't really mention the Spider-Man thing. Peter can't go out patrolling, so it's easy to just ignore it for the time being. He and Johnny have talked about it, but mostly just to make fun of how absurd this all is. 

He goes out again the night after seeing Harry. It's his first patrol since the injuries and he tries to take it easy, but he just can't stay in anymore. The combination of guilt and restlessness are going to drive him crazy if he does. 

He doesn't really do much other than swing around for a few hours. He stops a robbery and helps a lost kid get home, but even without doing anything, at least the city can see that he's back. Sometimes just seeing him can discourage crimes before they even start and that's really the ideal, isn't it? So even though it's absolutely a boring night, he's feeling better when he finally makes it home again. A little sore, sure, but there's been a weight lifted off his shoulders finally. 

A weight that falls right back onto him when he checks his phone and sees a message from Reed from right around when Peter left on patrol.  _ Come by Baxter tomorrow. We need to talk about Spider-Man.  _

Great. He can think of a million terrible ways this could end. Are they going to ask him to stop entirely? Threaten to tell his aunt the truth? Never work with Peter again because they're mad he lied? Peter falls asleep contemplating all the options of how the Fantastic Four could just about put a stop to his superhero career and he feels like he's right back to square one of feeling terrible. 

***

Normally, Peter wears his suit under his clothes whenever possible. He never knows when New York's villains are going to decide to show up and make a scene, after all. When he gets ready for his meeting with the team, though, he makes sure to leave his suit and equipment packed up and put away in his bedroom closet. He doesn't think they would try to do something like confiscate it from him, but he'd really rather be safe than sorry. He doesn't want to lose Johnny and he definitely doesn't want to make an enemy out of the Four, but he's not going to give up being Spider-Man. He can't. 

He lets himself up when he gets there, like he's done so many times since he started dating Johnny. They'd agreed to meet in one of the more formal gathering rooms, which is something else that has Peter's anxiety ramped up to the max. At least they're not all in uniform when he walks in. That would have probably been the last straw for Peter. 

"Good morning, Peter. Thanks for coming by," Reed says. He stretches out one of his arms so he can pull a chair out for Peter. "We saw you went out last night. First things first, I wanted to make sure none of your injuries were aggravated or reopened?" 

"I'm fine," Peter mumbles, slouching slightly in his chair. He's been doing this all by himself for so long, getting checked in on like a child isn't exactly his idea of a good time. "It was a slow night and I was careful." 

"Good. Now, as you can imagine, we were all rather shocked to find you that you're Spider-Man," Reed starts. 

Johnny is quick to interrupt him to add, "For the record, I had my suspicions. Just so everyone knows that I am officially the most observant member of this family." 

Despite how scared he still is, Peter starts laughing. Johnny smiles and nudges his foot under the table, which gives Peter the suspicion that he did it on purpose just to make Peter smile. That - plus Johnny's hand that sneaks over under the table to hold his - gives him a little more confidence as he responds. "If it makes you feel better, absolutely no one knows my secret identity. Just Norman who figured it out and you four after Johnny brought me back here from the fight. It wasn't anything personal. It's just safer this way. My family doesn't live in a high tech, ultra secure tower in Midtown and my friends aren't all other superheroes who can defend themselves. I can't risk having my loved ones used against me by villains who know who I am. So I keep it secret instead." 

"That's very reasonable and it's very honorable of you. We figured it was something like that which is why we took a vote and..." Sue pauses, probably for dramatic effect because all superheroes are as dramatic as can be at all times, and looks around the table at Peter and the rest of the team. "We'd like to formally extend an invitation to Spider-Man to join the Fantastic Four. You'll have access to all of our resources, your Aunt could come live in the tower, and that way the safety of you and your loved ones can be guaranteed." 

"Plus, you would look great in blue," Johnny adds, winking at him. 

"Oh, that's... That's really generous. Thank you." And not at all where Peter expected this conversation to go. His younger self is definitely overcome with excitement right now, considering that all he wanted to do when he first got his powers was be a part of the team. But... "Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm so grateful you think I could be a part of the team and it would be an honor to join, but I like being able to work independently. It's a lot more work sometimes and sure, I don't always have the same resources which sucks, but at least I always have the final say over what I do and who I go after. It's great that you're all on such good terms with feds and the local law enforcement, but I'm not going to get too comfortable with them and risk having to pick between orders and my morals someday. So... Thank you, but I'm going to have to turn your offer down." 

"Well, that's the last bit of this meeting I need to be here for," Ben decides. He stands up to leave and on his way, ruffles up Peter's hair. "You're a good kid. Ya got heart. Don't lose yourself trying to take on the world alone." 

Johnny grumbles a little. "Way to back us up, Ben! Listen, that's really noble and all, Peter, but you'd be safer on the team. Can't we just... pinkie promise we won't make you do anything you don't want to and have you join anyway?" 

"If Peter doesn't want to join, we're not going to push him towards it, Johnny," Sue reminds him. Peter has a feeling she's had to tell him this several times since this topic was first brought up among the team. "It's up to you in the end, Peter, and it sounds like you've thought it through. We can't promise that it'll be a standing offer, but if you'd ever like to enter a more formal cooperation, you're always welcome to come talk with us and see what we can figure out." 

"Now, while you're choosing to remain independent, you're also still a minor and since Sue and I know that, neither of us feels like we can just turn a blind eye to that. Especially not after the injuries you sustained in your fight with the Green Goblin. We have a few rules to let Johnny be a part of the team while he's still a minor and while we obviously can't hold you to our rules, we hope you'll take them as suggestions. Firstly, schooling always comes first, though I don't think you have any problems with that. Second, even if we're not officially a team together, if you know you'll be going up against someone who might outmatch you, there's no shame in calling in for help. And probably most importantly, if you get injured and you're afraid a hospital or doctor might ask too many questions, you can always come here for medical care." 

Not being forced to stop what he does  _ and  _ basically sliding in on the Fantastic Four healthcare plan? This meeting has officially gone ten times better than Peter ever expected it to. "Of course, Dr. Richards. I really appreciate all of that. And thank you for not telling Aunt May when you found me. I'm going to tell her one day, but... She's already lost so much. I can't put all that on her right now."

"I hope one day you'll reconsider and be honest with her, but I'm afraid it's not our secret to tell. As far as Spider-Man is involved, you're our peer and we don't interfere with one another that way." With that aside, Reed pulls some blueprints out of his papers and slides them across to Peter. "If you're amenable, I was thinking of some possible updates to your suit, to make it more durable and maybe add in some sort of communicator so you can phone for help and we can find you in an emergency like this last battle with the Green Goblin." 

Normally, Peter would be stubborn about accepting outside help like this, especially in something that will no doubt be ridiculously expensive, like upgrading his suit. But everything about these blueprints looks ridiculously cool and the nerd inside Peter would never let him pass up the chance to work on a project with Reed Richards. "These look amazing. My one condition is we work on them together, because it's my suit and, to be honest, I'd rather some things just stay my secret, but... I would love to work on a suit upgrade with you." 

"Awesome! It sounds like we've covered all the important parts, so before it gets too nerdy, I'm just gonna go ahead and steal Peter. Reed, Peter, text each other. Sue, pizza delivery to my room would be amazing. C'mon, Pete," Johnny grabs Peter's hand and tugs him away. 

Peter could definitely stay here and talk science with Reed for hours, but right now, Johnny is just as tempting. So he just laughs and apologizes over his shoulder as Johnny drags him away. He knows the complications of someone knowing his identity are far from over and that things are inevitably going to get a little awkward, no matter how much Reed and the rest of the team wants to help without interfering, but for now, he's happy to just ignore it and enjoy an afternoon with his boyfriend where he doesn't have to come up with half a dozen lies. It's a nice change for once. 

****

Peter knows he's getting ahead of himself, but he hopes he and Johnny are still together when they've graduated so they can live together. It's a ridiculous fantasy, considering they still have to get through senior year and that Johnny might not even want to move out of the Baxter Building, but Peter indulges himself in it for a little while anyway. It's hard not to when they're splayed out on Johnny's bed like this, resting their heads on each other and sharing all their silly stories of being superheroes. He'd worried that things might be too different now with Johnny and they might never work out, but really, Peter feels like they're closer than ever. He almost wishes he'd told Johnny a long time ago.  _ Almost.  _

"No wonder you hated me so much at first, huh? You were just as sleep deprived from fighting crime, but no one was helping you out like they were doing with me," Johnny notes, laughing. 

"In retrospect, I realize I was definitely ridiculously jealous and taking it out on you," he agrees sheepishly. "Though I guess it's better than you being a dick to Spider-Man because you were secretly in love with him." 

"In love might be a bit of an exaggeration. Besides, I got over him pretty quick when I finally got the science nerd in my history class to talk to me." Johnny laughs again, because their situation really just gets more ridiculous the more they think about it. "To be honest, I was kind of jealous of you, too. You as Peter, I mean. You had a normal life and normal friends you actually had time to hang out with, no one pretended to be your friend for fame and you never had to worry about things like saving the world. Look how that turned out." 

"We're quite a pair, huh?" Peter shakes his head fondly and turns his head to face Johnny properly and enjoy his face when he's smiling like this. 

"Just a pair of superhero boyfriends, one half of which is a deadly secret and the other is an international celebrity? Oh yeah. We're the best duo anyone could ever be," Johnny agrees. "Senior year is going to be really something. The two of us saving the world together, talking in code around our classmates so they don't figure us out, hanging out with other superheroes to establish ourselves as a power couple. It'll be perfect." 

"Or something definitely not perfect, but just right for both of us," Peter agrees. 

Johnny might want to argue about that, probably to say something cheesy about how the only perfect he needs is something with Peter there, but Peter's quick to shut him up by leaning in closer to kiss him. Being a teenager sucks. Being someone of any age with all the extra labels Peter carries around also sucks. Being all those things while hiding a superhero secret identity super duper sucks. But putting up with all of that while getting to boast a hot superhero boyfriend he no longer has to keep secrets from? It most definitely makes up for it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so bittersweet. <3 I absolutely loved every second of writing this and at first, I thought it would just be a fun, silly thing that would be too niche, but would have maybe one or two other readers who'd enjoy a few chapters. But everyone's support and kudos and lovely comments were so overwhelmingly wonderful that how could I /not/ keep writing and here we find ourselves at the end just over the 50k mark. Thanks for sticking with me and seriously, I can't thank you all enough for all the love and support I've received. 
> 
> Funny enough, I actually finished writing my first novel while working on this, which is absolutely wild to think about and I don't think I would have managed it without all the wonderful encouragement I was receiving from this, so thank you! I'm going to do a little bit of self promo now, so feel free to exit now :P just now you're loved and appreciated! 
> 
> So, if you liked this and you like other ships in the Marvel universe, I have a Steve/Bucky/Peggy fic coming up very soon. And if you're at all interested in my writing outside fanfiction, feel free to follow me at my books and writing themed twitter: @sebbyreads  
> You would truly own my heart forever
> 
> And that's a wrap. Once again, thank you so much! I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it


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